Calm Before the Storm
by iSqueakers
Summary: Bowser and Koopalings decide, once again, to kidnap Peach during a picnic the Mario Gang are having to celebrate Plit Day. But a chemical Ludwig uses to knock out the Mario Gang turns into a starting point of a much bigger adventure. In this story, the Mario Brothers and the Koopas must work together to save their planet from a shadow being! Pairings added throughout the story.
1. Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 1: Calm before the storm

Time: 8:43 am – October 13, 2001, Mario's house.

One day- No, wait, that is too typical of an introduction.

A beautiful Saturday morning fell upon the Mushroom Kingdom. A sudden crisp, autumn breeze stirred the hilly landscape, kicking up dust in the air as it does so. Birds are chirping and communicating to each other as they prepare for the cold and snow, with the red and yellow falling leaves expose their home. None of that matter right now, the scene takes place indoors.

Mario and Luigi, who has barely waken up due to the squawking of some retreating bird species, was getting their breakfast and two cups of coffee ready.

"You know, bro, I was thinking that we should go on a picnic later today. You know, Peach, Daisy, you, and I. We need the time to ourselves, solving these multiple civil wars between the goombas and the toads are taking away my sanity. Plus, today is the start of Plit Day!" Luigi planned.

"You know, I agree with that, these last nice days of the year are ticking down quickly. How about I call Peach, and you call Daisy? I will try to get Peach to bake one of her world-famous pastries for us, and the rest of us will agree to bring something?"

Luigi smiled broadly and said, "Yeah, whatever, bro. We will call our girls after breakfast!"

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 9:14am, October 13, 2001, Bowser's Castle

_"KIDS!"_

Bowser was irritated. Where in the world are those kids?! Sure, contrary to popular beliefs, he actually loved his kids to death, but being nearly fifteen minutes late to an urgent meeting was absolutely unacceptable.

The sound of running and stomping were heard for a few minutes before Bowser's eight kids stood right before him.

"Ve all arrived here dear daddyo. Please excuse us for being late, ve all slept in, ve totally forgot about zis meeting!" Ludwig apologized.

"Yeah yeah, then the tooth fairy came and asked you to do a favor. Anyway, kids, you all know the Plit Day celebrations, right?"

Monotonous grunts and mhm's are emitted from his children. Their dad hasn't been talking about anything but this for weeks.

"Umm.. Do you kids even know what Plit day is about?" Bowser questioned.

All of the Koopalings shook their heads.

"It has something to do with Plit being freed from an evil spirit, but, throughout time, the holiday transitioned into more of a celebration of Plit and all of its beauty. Plit's calendar originally had this date as the new year, and our calendar started on this day, but through time, officials did not like having October 15th to be the new year, so they moved it to October 1st. Not liking that date, they eventually changed it to January 1st. So now, two holidays branched off of one event. Well anyway, this is not a history class. This year's celebrations start on Monday. We need to come up with a plan to try to take over Princess Peach, and preferably the Mario Brothers also, because we all know they just love to PARTY."

'I can't believe that Dad is still going after dat chic. I would think he will give up after awhile. When will he accept defeat?' Roy whispered to Wendy. Wendy quickly nodded and giggled.

"Vell, dad," Ludwig started, "I have spies around ze Mushroom Kingdom, vhen I told zem to spy on E. Gadd, and vun of them picked up that ze Mario Bros. and princesses vill go on a picnic later. Anyvay, I svear I vill be better zan zat old man in zat vhite co-"

"HEY, that's my line!" Bowser Jr shouted.

"Isn't it obvious guys? We need to do something to their food to make them weak and submissive!" Larry shouted, pounding his fist on the table as he did so. He, along with Ludwig, appears to be the only wide-awake Koopalings here.

"Good idea, but what should we use on their food, and how do we get that INTO their food?" Bowser asked.

"Simple. I am a great, sneaky, cheating spy. I can handle any task from robbing a bank to stealing a baby's candy. For the answer to your first question, ask Ludwig." Larry stated.

"Alright. Ludwig, experiment with some chemicals to make one strong enough to make them weak, but weak enough to not kill them. I want them all alive, not dead. Next time, do not be late to a meeting. MEETING AJOURNED!"

~7~7~7~7~7


	2. Preperation

**CHAPTER 2 – Preparations**

Time: 11:02 am, Saturday, October 13, 2001, Mario's house

**Mario POV **

_I should not have accepted having a picnic. First off, I have absolutely no idea where to go. Second off, I never knew that preparing for four people could be this difficult. Seriously, we are FOUR people, so why do we need twelve servings of pasta, seventeen sandwiches, and 6 liters of soft drinks? Not to mention the cake Princess Peach is baking._

_Yes, the girls accepted the offer. Why the heck would we have a picnic without them? A picnic with Luigi and I occur everyday. It's called dinner. But anyway, Peach is baking a red velvet cake, and I swear I can smell it all the way from my house. That cake, along with being with my little Peachy, is my main highlight of the trip. Luigi is out running errands and I have not even heard of Daisy from even him yet, so I actually have no idea if she is coming or not. Maybe she is at Peach's castle, helping her with baking a cake-_

_Oh yeah! The cake! Is it ready yet? I need to call her._

_I head to my living room where my cell phone sits on the couch. Before I could reach for it, BAM! Luigi opens the door. _

"Hey, what's wrong bro? You look super stressed out." Luigi pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"No, I am completely calm after freaking preparing all that food." I said sourly, my sentence leaking with sarcasm.

"It is 12 servings of pasta, 17 sandwiches and 6 liters of soda. How is that stressful? You buy soda, uncooked pasta, bread, peanut butter, jelly, deli meats.."

_Before Luigi could finish his never ending list of what I needed to buy, also proving my point as he keeps going, the door opens, and, there in the doorframe, stood Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, and Toad. _

"Ever heard of knocking, Princess Peach?" I teased.

"Hehe, I am royalty, what I say goes." She joked back.

"Haha. Anyway, let's hit the road! Yahoo!" Toad said excitedly.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time- 11:28 am, Saturday, October 13, 2001, Ludwig's lab in Kastle Koopa.

**Ludwig POV**

_Let's see here, a potion that will immediately knock out anybody when consumed. I usually do not use recipes, and I am too much of a professional to use them, but because of the short amount of time we have, I beg to differ. Anyway, my recipe calls for some silver nitrate, a sage lily, three Koopa Tea leaves, and.. Nooo!_

_A chocolate bar? Into a freaking knockout recipe? What a waste of such goodness! This potion better work!_

_Anyway, I take both the sage lily and the Koopa Tea leaves, and grind them up with a mortar and pestle. I then take the crushed herbs, and combined them with the other ingredients, which turned into a yellowish potion that actually smelt pretty good. Maybe it was the chocolate?_

"Now," _I said to myself, _"Time to boil zis potion to activate all the effects zat the ingredients offer."

_After a few minutes of a harsh boiling, the potion turned more into an orange shade. _

"EUREKA!" _I was so happy that it turned out, that I did a little jig around my laboratory. _

_The celebrations came to an end, unfortunately, and I was stuck having to make four copies of the same potion, with four more big, beautiful bars of chocolate wasted on those plumbers!_

_Figuring that one, maybe two, was the maximum needed, I pocketed the other three._

_"May need zis in ze future.." I muttered to myself._


	3. Koopacalypse

**Chapter 3: Koopacalypse**

Time: 11:43 AM, Saturday, October 13, 2001, Bowser's Throne room.

_'Man, I hope Larry's plan will work…' _Bowser throught to himself as he paces around the room, 'Okay, quit worrying, Bowser, this plan is absolutely flawless. But if it is not, we should have our doomships hidden below a cliff, in case a step in Larry's plan goes wrong.'

"THAT'S IT! I have to tell the other kids!"

Bowser suddenly hears yelling.

"KING DAD!"

It is obviously a child of King Bowser, calling out from an advanced scientific lab.

"Yes, Ludwig? How is making a potion going?"

"It is going GREAT, read ze effects zis potion vill have if consumed."

Bowser starts to read at the list, raising his eyebrows at some of the effects.

"Sleepiness, back pain, nausea, submissiveness, and the feelings of love and serenity, no matter what position you are in. Way to create a LUST potion, Ludwig! Anyway, give the potion to Larry when you are done, and tell him to IMMEDIATELY go out to find the Mario Brothers. I will have to have a quick meeting with your other six siblings."

Ludwig did a little salute and shouted, "Yes sir!"

~7~7~7~7~7

Mario and company are found in a random field that actually appears to be taken care of, sitting on a blanket with a giant paper bag, a basket and a covered red velvet cake.

"These sandwiches are so good!" Toad said as he pats Mario on the back.

"Glad to hear you enjoy it. Just wait until you try Peach's cake. It will taste like HEAVEN." Mario advised.

Little did they know, there was a figure, hidden behind a few bushes.

"Oh Mario, just wait until you try Peach's cake. It will taste like your defeat!" Larry Koopa mocked to himself. He then pulls out a walkie-talkie, and looked at the doomships miles off in the horizon.

"Larry in. The Mario brothers and the princesses are here! I am sending over my coordinates. I need a minor distraction! Over."

"I am sending a fleet of paragoombas to that area. They will come by 12:15. Stay hidden, Larry! Do not come out until they are completely distracted and away from the area. Over." Bowser answered back.

"Roger. Larry out." Larry looked at the time on the walkie-talkie. 11:57. Eighteen minutes to go. He puts the walkie-talkie in his shell and waited to pounce.

Anyway, back to our good guys.

"Man, everything is so beautiful! I love autumn! There is so much red, orange and yellow! And look, there's even a weird blue plant over there!" Daisy yelled.

"Oh shoot, I forgot to put my hair down!" Larry yelped, startled, and then stealthily hid his hair.

Peach, Mario, Luigi and Toad looked at Larry's direction. Unimpressed by not seeing any blue plant, they resumed to eating.

Larry was beating up on himself. How could a master spy like him forget that simple step? "Note to self, DO NOT LET ANYTHING OF YOU SHOW.

After a few minutes of a quiet tantrum on Larry's part, a swarm of paragoombas came down and was heading towards the Mario brothers.

"Look out Mario! Paragoombas! EEEEEK!" Peach screamed, and ran away with Toad.

Mario, Luigi and Daisy, however, held their ground, and started jumping on them, or, on Daisy's part, hitting them with a bag. Eventually, the paragoombas started retreating.

Daisy was the first to retaliate. "Mario! Luigi! Let's chase after them!"

Mario and Luigi, however, told her to ignore it, they were retreating. Toad and Peach came back to the other three.

Larry was upset. "Rats! That distraction didn't work!" He pulls out his walkie-talkie again.

"Larry in! Paragoomba distraction failed, King Dad! We need a bigger distraction that will last longer!"

"Calm down Larry, we will get them. I am sending your seven siblings over there. Stay hidden, do not join them at all!"

Less than a minute after, a giant flying bowl with a propeller at the bottom flew by. It had a giant clown face on the front of it.

"The Klown Khopper! About time!" Larry exclaimed.

Toad, however, also saw the Klown Khopper, and decided to tell everyone.

"Look out! Bowser's clown car is here!"

By the time the 7 Koopas jumped out the car, everyone was ready to deal with them.

"The Mario Brothers!" Lemmy shouted.

"We will defeat you this time!" Roy shouted.

"You both fixed your last toilet, plumbers!" Morton yelled.

"Yeah! Let's finish this so I can do my makeup!" Wendy said.

Bowser Jr. also piped in. "And I will get my Mama Peach back!"

"She's not your mother!" All the characters except Peach and Larry shouted at him. Bowser Jr. just shrugged.

"Enough of the crap talk, Koopalings, and let's get this going!" Luigi shouted. He and Mario pulled out a Fire Flower.

The Koopalings, undaunted, went forward to attack the Brothers. Mario quickly shot a fireball at Iggy, causing him to run around screaming. Eventually the fire is put out, and Iggy collapses by his siblings.

"Do you #%$# want some too? Or do you want to get your ^#*es out of here?" Luigi yelled.

"Luigi, quit cussing..." Mario said.

The Koopas, seeing they have no weapons, finally decided to give up.

"We are leaving, fatty, but before we do.." Roy said.

While Lemmy helped Iggy get up, the five remaining Koopas give them the finger, and then Ludwig somehow gets a hold of Toad, causing all 4 characters to chase after the seven of them.

As Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy ran after them, Larry used this time to spread the potion all over Peach's cake.

"Good fight, plumbers, looks like we got the better cards this game!" Larry said to himself. He then hides behind the same bush, to make sure the cake is consumed.

~7~7~7~7~7

Meanwhile, Bowser is pacing around in the doomship, with no one but a few guards.

"I hope my kids are doing well…" He repeated for probably the 35th time.

He was not concerned whether his other seven children could beat the Mario Brothers, but rather if the Mario Brothers got distracted well enough for Larry to do his part of the plan.

"These are my kids we are talking about. That means they will succeed!" Bowser hoped.

~7~7~7~7~7

"Give him back you filthy freaks!" Daisy yelled.

That outburst was to no avail, the Koopas kept running, picking up speed.

"Why the heck did I wear high heels?!" Wendy mumbled as she kept running.

Eventually the Koopas reached a huge cliff. They nearly ran off it. Ludwig quickly drop Toad and they all ran to the left, on the edge of the very high cliff, where the doomship will meet them.

"What about da klown khoppa?" Roy asked.

"Ignore zat piece of machinery- our good health is in jeopardy!" Ludwig uttered.

"Family Feud seems to fit better than Jeopardy."

"Hardy har har Lemmy," Ludwig sarcastically laughed as the Koopalings disappear in the horizon.

As the Koopas ran off farther in the distance, Mario and Co. checked up on Toad, worried about him like he had some serious, life-threatening disease.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh my gosh, Toad! Please tell me you're okay!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Really, guys. I am just worried about the Koopas. It is not like them to give up like that, without a fight."

"… Yeah, come to think of it, that is pretty odd.. We need to be on our toes at all time, we do not know what is up their sleeves." Mario replied.

"Or, up their shell." Luigi cracked a funny. They all giggled and laughed.

"Anyway, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?!" Daisy asked.

"… Oh no! The cake!" Peach cried, "I worked hard on it, and we didn't even eat it yet! What if ants get on it?!"

Toad shook his head. "Yall worry too much."

With that, Mario and Co. rushed quickly back to their picnic spot.

~7~7~7~7~7

"We got them distracted. Repeat, we got them distracted. They quit following us after Ludwig dropped Toad. We are heading back to the doomship now. Over!" Morton said in his walkie-talkie. He was the only one of the group who remembered to bring one.

Larry was the first to respond. "I also used the potion on Peach's cake. You know they cannot resist eating her creations. The princesses and plumbers are arriving! Over."

"Great job distracting them! We will win in a few minutes! When you seven get to the doomship, we will pick up the unconscious forms of our enemies. Bowser out."

"Larry, make sure to watch them. Do not let them get out of your sight until they eat the cake. Give us the call and we will pick them up. Morton out."

~7~7~7~7~7

"Well, I wonder what THAT was all about." Mario wondered.

"Well, whatever it was, it's over! Let us eat cake!" Toad exclaimed.

Cheering is heard from the group, as they dished up and enjoyed the great flavor of both the cake and the cream cheese frosting.

"Oh my gosh, Peach, I forgot how good your cakes are!" Daisy exclaimed.

"Well, that is one of the things I am well-known for. The other thing is my happy personality, my kindness, and me being kidnapped, but let's not talk about that one." Peach said, a bite of cake entering her mouth soon after.

"*Yawn* I suddenly.. got the urge.. to sleep.." Luigi yawned, then later collapsed on the ground.

"Wow… Let me lay down.. and close my.. ey.." Toad fell asleep immediately, followed with Mario, Peach and Daisy."

~7~7~7~7~7

Larry marveled as each picnicker suddenly collapsed on the ground, with a little more than half of Peach's mouth-watering cake left. He immediately pulls out his walkie-talkie.

"Larry in! They are down! Repeat, they are down! Sending my coordinates! Larry out!"

A loud sound is heard, as a brown object casted its shadow around Larry's area. He immediately recognizes it to be the doomship. It soon lowers to the ground, and his family came out.

"Tie them up! Throw them in the doomship, and throw them into the dungeon when we get home!" Bowser said as he grabbed a piece of cake and ate it.

_'I wonder if they will notice if I have a piece of that cake…' Every Koopaling thought._

_'Yeah, that cake is pretty tempting..' Ludwig thought to himself._

_'I am sure I did not put any potion on this side of the cake… Nor on the side that King Dad just ate.' Larry thought. _

The next thing Bowser noticed was all of his children collapsed on the ground, knocked out like the Mario brothers.

Bowser sighed. "Oh great. Well, atleast we won this time." He muttered before he collapsed himself.

**A/N: Yeah one of my longer chapters. Anyway R&R.**


	4. Visions

**Chapter 4. Visions**

Time: ?

Mario woke up on a floating cloud, the background filled with shooting stars and nebulae. This must be Star Haven. He sees nothing but stars around him.

"Okay, where the heck am I? One minute we are picnicking, then the next I am on a floating cloud? Is this the afterlife? What about Peach? Bowser will kidnap her without me! Oh no!" Mario panicked to himself and looked around.

All of the other characters expressed similar fears and shocked looks on their faces. Mario suddenly spotted Peach, the other characters, and Bowser far away from her.

"Phew, Peach is safe here. And I am not the only one." Mario sighed with relief as he began to relax.

Not long after, the star spirits appeared.

"Woah! Who brought these people here?" Mamar cried out.

"I did." Eldstar replied, "I messed with Ludwig's recipe, and made it so they will have this vision instead of being just knocked out. Oh, the powers of chocolate bars."

"So zat's vhy!" Ludwig replied, shocked.

"Anyway, the world is in deep trouble, and we are in need of your help." Eldstar replied.

"What do you mean 'the world is in trouble'?" Toad asked.

"Here, I will show you guys in a vision…"

~7~7~7~7~7

The scene suddenly shows a shadow beast. The shadow beast is obviously a woman, with many feminine features and long, shadowy, misty hair. A 'scene' of a battle seems to be going between her and the star spirits that was fast forwarded from the year 1 to the year 2001. The star spirits are putting on a good fight, but over the centuries, the shadow figure just kept getting closer and closer to the Mario world. Towards the end of the year 2000, the figure was dangerously close, and could be conquering the world by a year from then, if nothing is done. The scene changes to a star spirit trying to seek help around the 100's.

"Oh, Ancient Stars, where are you? My dimension is in need of your help!" An unfamiliar star spirit cried out.

**"What do you mean your dimension needs help?" **A powerful voice shook the entire scene as a giant gray star appeared.

"Oh, Master, the Power Stars are getting weaker by the passing second! That devil will rule the world if nothing blocks her!"

**"Yes, it is the written fate for this planet. Now, please leave me be, I have an entire universe to watch." The star said as it faded into space.**

~7~7~7~7~7

"And that is only part of the fight I can show you. There are many instances of it. Good always overpowers bad, and this case is an exception. We think there is something buried deep in the earth that is giving her power. I want you guys to go, find it and destroy it before the world is wrapped in her shadow arms." Eldstar instructed.

"Are you guys able to give us hints, clues, or anything of that possible nature?" Wendy asked.

"I am afraid not, the other star spirits and I barely know that information ourselves." Eldstar answered.

"What about the Star Rod? Isn't that thing powerful enough to stop evil from even advancing?" Inquired Daisy.

"Again, this case is an exception. There is something that is obviously giving her negative, dark energy, to the point that even the Star Rod will have a hard time standing up to it. When dealing with anything outside our dimension, the 'force field' blocking that the Power Stars cause is much more powerful than the Star Rod. In other words, the Star Rod is best used when domestic problems show up, but we cannot destroy the dark object deep in the earth. And, once the figure shows up and reunites with her energy-expelling object, the Star Rod will have few, if any, power against it."

"And how would we destroy her?" Peach asked, "If even the Star Rod waivers against it, our chances of beating her are slim, if any!"

~7~7~7~7~7

The characters are suddenly swept into another vision. Fast forward to October 18th, three days after the Plit Day celebrations begin, where the Mario brothers, Princesses, Koopas and the shadow beast are seen fighting. Ludwig, Morton, Larry and Wendy are not seen in this vision. The shadow demon appears to be in human form, as she appears to be holding an unfamiliar character, which is also a woman.

"Quick! Someone save her! We need her for the world to be saved!" Daisy yelled as the Shadow beast holds the unknown character up high in the air with her left hand, and holding back all the characters with her right hand.

Mario used a super leaf and proceeded to fly up to the shadow beast's hand. Unfortunately, one of the shadow beast's strands of hair whipped Mario, causing him to lose the power. Mario had no other super powers with him, neither did Luigi.

The demon holds the unknown character over a cliff. Magma is slowly rising up, threatening to consume the whole scene.

"You are too late, foolish mortals! The world is MINE! Tehehehehehe!" The demon laughed.

"NOOOOO!" Everyone cries.

~7~7~7~7~7

"What? Are we going to win or lose?" Peach says, shocked.

"That is the part that has not been written into time yet. You all still have hope of saving the world!" Eldstar replied with hope.

"But the Ancient Star said it vas vritten fate?" Ludwig asked, confused.

"The Ancient star meant that her attempting to take over the world was written fate, not her actually succeeding." Eldstar answered.

"Thank you, Eldstar, we will work hard to save the world from this creature!" Mario was pumped up.

"You are welcome. Hurry quick! The world depends on all of you!" Eldstar quickly said, as all of the characters 'woke up' from their visions.


	5. Discussions

Chapter 5- Discussions

Time: 5:58 PM, Saturday, October 13, 2001 Kastle Koopa

**Ludwig POV**

"Oh my gosh, I had the weirdest dream last night, and it occurred after I ate that cake Peach made." Lemmy told the Koopas during dinner.

"This is Saturday dinner, not breakfast, idiot. That occurred five hours ago." Morton said, "Anyway, I did too. I had a dream that Eldstar told all of us, even Team Mario, that the world is in trouble. Weird, aye?"

"Guys, somezing is telling me zat it vas not a dream." I told them all.

_The others looked at me with rapt attention. Here was my chance to clear up any confusion or doubt_.

"You see, as I vas making ze potion to knockout Mario, the specific recipe called for a chocolate bar. Chocolate bars zould never be combined vith exotic ingredients, as it can cause hallucinations and, in many cases, cause visions. Anyvay, Larry spread ze potion on Peach's cake, and all of us consumed it. Vhat ve experienced vas a vision, not some random veird dream."

"So, the world is really in trouble?!" Lemmy gasped.

"What the heck are you guys smoking? The world is perfectly fine. Except that I don't rule it." Bowser said.

I, however, retaliated. "No, King Dad, the vorld is in serious trouble."

"Yeah whatever, then the tooth fairy asked you to do a favor."

_My dad can be so ignorant and care-free too often. I sighed._

"Umm.. You used zat sarcastic sentence earlier today. Get a new vun, dad."

~7~7~7~7~7

**Peach POV**

"Wake up, Peach! It is nearly 6 PM!"

_I sat up and rubbed my eyes. 6 PM?! Did I seriously oversleep? I looked at myself, and was relieved to be in my dress, a sign that I at least did something today. Maybe I just took a power nap? _

_I had this weird.. I don't know what to call it.. A dream, I guess, when Eldstar warned us that the world will be engulfed in pure evil. Most dreams, I can shake off, but I somehow cannot ignore this one. The dream felt so real. I have a feeling that it will happen and there is no escaping it. _

_I rushed down the stairs, and saw Toadsworth. He seemed to be pretty upset with me right now. _

"Princess, why the heck were you sleeping in the middle of a field? Worse, you were sleeping by Bowser and his spawns! That is not what you should be doing! That is more than just unsafe, that is just plain dangerous!" Toadsworth raged.

_I suddenly remembered what occurred earlier that day._

"Calm down please, Toadsworth. Mario, Luigi, Toad, Daisy and I were going out for a picnic, and Bowser crashed it. Then suddenly, I don't know why or how, but we all got knocked out." I stated. Toadsworth calmed down a little.

"Anyway, Mario, Luigi and Daisy are waiting for you downstairs, and they requested that you join them." Toadsworth informed me.

~7~7~7~7~7

**Daisy POV**

_I am so confused right now. I had the weirdest sequence of events that happened to me just today alone. I went from being in a meadow, to being on a cloud in the sky, to being in Peach's castle. Maybe I need to see a professional for a mental checkup?_

_The creaking of stairs filled up my ears. Seconds later, the figure of the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom appeared. There is also a confused look on her face. _

"Hello, all. Nice to see you all here again." Peach welcomed.

"Hello Peach. You see, Mario, Luigi and I want to have a group discussion." I started.

"On what?"

"Did you happen to have a weird dream about the world being taken over by some shadow chick?" I asked.

"Yes, and why?" Peach asked.

"That is exactly why we are here. We all had that dream. Bowser and the Koopalings were also in that dream. If this event is going to turn real, that means we need their help in beating this shadow beast." I explained.

"Do you guys remember our adventures at Sub-con?" Mario brought up, "Anyway, if I did not beat that dream game, I would have never woken up. This dream can be related to that. We need to beat that 'Dream,' which can actually take real life effort, in order to 'wake up' again, or to enjoy Life the way it is now."

It felt like something in my brain just clicked. I knew exactly what we should do.

"You guys will think I am stupid if I am to recommend what we should do next." I started.

"And what is that?"

"For us to team up with another group, and to beat this dream." I finished.

"Oh yeah, and who will we team up with?" They asked.

"Exactly what the dream says: We team up with the Koopas." I replied.


	6. Teaming up

Chapter 6- Teaming up

Time: 6:31 PM, Saturday, October 13, 2001. Kastle Koopa meeting room

"No! I do NOT like that idea at all!" Bowser shouted.

"But Dad! The world is at risk! We need to team up with the Mario Brothers if we want a world to conquer! We cannot let some random shadow hoe win!" Iggy replied.

"NO!" Bowser screamed back.

Iggy tried again, "Think, Dad. You do not want anyone else to rule the Mushroom Kingdom. Not even Peach you are satisfied with ruling it. Think about some random otherworldly hoe, who will appear out of nowhere, ruling the land you would kill for. Would that make you happy at all?"

Bowser, knowing his son was right, reluctantly gave in.

"That's the spirit, dad! I just hope Team Mario will do the same.." Iggy wondered.

"Zat is a long zhot, Iggy. Zheir ego is larger zan ze national deficit." Ludwig commented.

"We need to try, still! The world is depending on our alliance! We cannot afford to just be sitting ducks to this shadow thing! It may fail, but we need to try!" Iggy yelled, everyone can see he was getting emotional.

"Okay okay Iggy, calm the heck down. Kids, get in the doomship. We need to get the Klown Khopper back from that random meadow. I don't even remember coming back to this castle after that episode. Then we are asking Mario and Company if we can team up." Bowser ordered, "Troops! Get her fired up!"

~7~7~7~7~7

"I seriously doubt Bowser will team up with us. He hates me for always foiling his plans." Mario said.

"We still need to try. Our vision prophesized that both we and the Koopas will be battling this shadow beast. We need to keep that true, or we will have no hope of winning at all." Toad replied.

"Alright, we will ask them later. For now, let's watch the sunset!" Peach said, taking everything lightly, more in an optimistic way.

Mario and Company are walking in the same exact meadow that they picnicked in. Was it just seven hours ago? After all the significant events of that day, it felt like years ago. They keep walking until they reach the same cliff that Toad's kidnapping came to an abrupt end. All of the Mario characters, except for Peach, seemed down.

"We need to get our minds off the end of the world, and just gaze at the serenity of Nature. A stressed mind does not do well; we think the best when we are calm. We DO our best when we are calm." Peach lectured as the sun is seen sinking below the horizon. The Mario characters then stand back up and walked back towards Peach's castle. They see a shiny object buried in the grass near the cliff, but paid no mind to it.

Peach continued with her lecture, "Nature is a giant eraser. It erases our daily problems. It erases the stress put upon our bodies. We naturally crave Nature because of her positive effect on our lives. Nature makes us think positive, Nature makes us want to do anything to protect her from any harm. We can beat this shadow beast, we just need to stay calm and hold onto the bull's horns. It will be a tough ride, but we will not let go. We will not give up, no, not until our last fight. Not until our last, dying breath. We will defend Nature."

After that lecture, every Mario character knew who that unknown woman seen in Eldstar's vision represents.

~7~7~7~7~7

"What the heck do you mean, 'I don't know where the keys are'?!" Bowser shouted at his kids.

"W-w-we p-p-p-put them in th-the com-compartment." Wendy stuttered in fear.

"You liar! They are not there!" Bowser yelled.

"Oh ne-nevermind dad.. I do-don't know…" Wendy said in fear.

Bowser roared. "WHAT?!"

"Are you looking for these?" A voice came from behind the trees.

Out of the trees, a creature comes out. It appears to be a female character. She looked like a giant bird somehow put into human form. Little feathers, mostly white, grew all over her body and she had a beak instead of a mouth and nose. She is wearing a dark purple, almost black, dress with heeled boots. She actually looked pretty good.

"I found these a few minutes ago, near some cliff, and I had no idea where they go to. Perhaps they are yours?" The beaked creature wondered.

"Yes, zey are ours!" Ludwig cried out. The creature gave the keys to him.

_'That guy with the blue 'do is so cute!' The creature thought to itself, sighing after._

"Anyway, my name is Violent. It was nice to meet you guys."

"I am Ludwig, and zis is Lemmy, Roy, Iggy, Vendy, Morton, Larry, Bowser Junior and, my fazzer, Bowser."

"My name is WENDY!"

"Vatever, sis, anyway, Violence, vant to join us on a quest to save the vorld? It is a long story, ve vill tell you later."

"Hehe, my name is Violent, not Violence, silly, and I would love to! Thank you Luddi!" Violent said excitedly.

"Please, just call me Ludwig."

"Nice for you to join us, Violent. Anyway, you kids got lucky that she found the keys for you guys. Everyone get in the Klown Khopper. Ludwig, drive the Khopper, and follow behind me." Bowser ordered.

A few seconds later, the Koopas and Violent are flying towards Peach's castle. Bowser landed his giant doomship about 200 feet away from her castle, while Ludwig parked up by the front gate.

"We come in peace," Bowser said reluctantly to a guard guarding the gate, "We need to see the Mario gang!"

The guard just stared at Bowser for a few seconds, before pointing a pointy spear at him.

"Woah, put that crap down, we come in peace!" Bowser roared.

"GUARDS! Arrest them! Her Majesty asked to see them." Another guard, who appears to be the captain, called out.

"Oh great, ve just got dragged into our deaths…" Ludwig muttered as handcuffs and chains were put on ten pairs of hands and ankles.

"QUIT YOUR TALKING AND DO YOUR WALKING!" The captain said as the Koopas and Violent were being dragged to the main door. The guards stationed at the main door automatically opened the door for them.

"Good day sirs," The captain said to the door guards, "I am taking these prisoners to Her Majesty Peach Toadstool. Is she back from her walk?"

"Yes," One of the door guards answered, "She should be in her meeting room with Mario, Luigi, Daisy and Toad."

"Thank you." The captain said. He notices that neither the Koopas nor Violent are not moving at all.

"ARE YOU GOING TO MOVE OR ARE YOU PARALYZED? Move those legs!"

Eventually, after a bunch of bickering from the captain, the Koopas and Violent arrived at the meeting room.

"Bowser!" Peach shouted.

"…Yes?" He modestly answered.

"It is neat you showed up. We need to talk about our vision." She continued.

"Yes, ve know, Madame. Ve figured out zat it vas a vision, and it requires us to team up." Ludwig replied.

"Yes. Would you guys like to team up with us? We need your help to defeat this dark force, and you guys will need our help." Peach asked.

"I suppose we can, Peach…" Bowser accepted.

"Wonderful. We need to start first thing tomorrow morning. Meet here at 8 AM, on the dot, tomorrow morning." Peach said.


	7. Sunday Morning Social

Chapter 7 – Sunday Morning Social

Time: 7:43 AM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Kastle Koopa

**Violent POV**

We just finished both eating our breakfast and getting ready for our long day ahead.

"And that is why we need to save the world, Violent. You will understand it more eventually as we go along." _Bowser told me about their vision they experienced, and what we must do to prevent the world from falling into her evil hands._

"Ahh, this sounds like a fun, but scary adventure!" _I replied._

"Anyway, we need to leave in seven minutes, everyone." _Bowser said._

_The Koopalings were finishing doing last minute jobs and stuffing necessaries in their shells. Luddi thought it was a good idea to put the four unused "Knockout" potions in his shell in case they are needed. A few minutes passed and the time of the deadline is eventually shown on the clock. _

"Alright, get in the doomship kids. We need to be on time." _Bowser said as the giant garage holding the magnificent ship is slowly opened. _

_I stared in awe at the large ship. Sure, I had seen it yesterday, but I underestimated all the measurements of it. This ship was HUGE, and I will be going to get in it!_

_The inside was about as huge as the outside. The doomship was actually separated into different rooms, just like a house. We were currently in what is considered the foyer, living room, or something of that extent. A lot of flat screen televisions, about four of them, are present. Half of them show vital information, such as altitude, pressure and the map of Plit, while the other half showed extraterrestrial sports, such as a weird game of sports where padded people tackle each other for some funky-shaped ball. Clearly not a sport on Plit, but would go well._

_I must have had an uncomfortable look on my face, as I am not used to being in such a ship, and Luddi must have seen it. _

"Violent, velax in here, ve got about a ten minute trip after ve take off." _Luddi said to me._

_I sit down in one of the many seats available. I tried to look for a seatbelt of some kid, but-_

"Ve do not have seatbelts in here. The doomship actually flies smooth, it is not necessary_." Luddi informed._

_I sigh and sit back. Soon, the engines of the doomship roared to life, and I prepared for the constant acceleration that came with takeoff._

_But that did not happen. The doomship went straight up into the air? Nothing like I have experienced before._

_What seemed like only a few seconds later, we landed. It was actually around eight to nine minutes that trip, due to Bowser's speeding, but it felt so short because I was communicating with Luddi. I found out he was seventeen, nearly eighteen, and was going to go to university come next fall, his favorite hobby was to invent machines and his favorite pastime was hanging out with his now ex-girlfriend. _

_Anyway, we exit outside, and was greeted with the Mario gang, packed up. Mario and Luigi's pockets nearly oozed with some weird flowers and stars that I have never seen before. _

"Glad to see you guys here on time. One of my cousins live on the outskirts of the Mushroom province, in a town called Green City, and she says that a local is a huge history buff, who can answer nearly every question. We should go to her so we can find this local man. Maybe he will know more of this demon." Peach said.

Mario and Luigi suggested that everyone walk there, but Bowser offered to drive all of us there with the doomship. Figuring we had almost no time, we all filed onto the doomship.

Unlike the trip earlier, if it had not been for a window in that room, I would have never guessed that we launched, and were high up in the clouds. This ride is so much smoother than the one leaving Bowser's Castle. Again, time moved quickly, and we find ourselves outside the town of Grass City.

We all got off of the doomship and entered the city gate. Since the ruler, Princess Peach, was with the group, the group was not required to have an ID check. As they passed the gate, Peach took on the role of leader, and lead everyone to her cousin's house. The door opened before she got the chance to knock on it.

"Oh, what a coincidence! I was just going to walk my dog!" Peach's cousin, named Apricot, exclaimed.

"Yes, April, we need your help."

"With what hun? …Oh! I did not realize! I have royalty and heroes from three different kingdoms on my doorstep!" She bowed to everyone but me.

"We need to find that history buff who knows basically everything about world events! It is important, please, we will explain later." Peach asked.

"Oh, Arthur? You can probably find him at the local pub."

"Thank you, cousin! I promise to visit you more often. It has been too long!" Peach thanked. Apricot then walked away, holding a puppy on a leash.

Suddenly, a toad pointed at me and shouted, "LOOK! EVERYONE, IT'S MADAME DIANA!"

A ton of toads suddenly surround me, got on their knees, and started worshipping me?

"I am not this Madame Diana." I said with confusion.

"GUYS! It's really her! The real Madame Diana will first deny herself! This is AMAZING!" The toad cried out.

"Okay, you see that blue-spotted Toad out there in the distance? He is my new prophet, follow him like you would follow me." I said, taking advantage of this situation.

"I wonder what that was all about." I said as all the toads started running away. As the pub was too close to use the doomship, we went there by foot.


	8. Domestic Problems

Chapter 8 – Domestic Problems

Time: 9:48 AM, Sunday, October 14, 2001. Green City, Grass Land.

Our heroes are found walking on the street. The street is bustling with hundreds of Toads and other species. Heading to work, getting their shopping and other daily tasks done, or just socializing, the civilians look like they are occupied and busy.

"Where exactly is this pub?" Wendy asked as she took off her high heels, putting them into her shell. She seemed pretty tired of all that walking in them, "And who the heck goes into a pub at nearly 10 AM?"

"It is a few blocks away. And we are not drinking, so it does not matter. No ifs, ands or buts." Peach replied, "Time is too short to be drunk."

"And that is why I left Bowser Jr at home with Clawdia." Bowser added, "Not the best atmosphere for someone that little."

Sooner than later, they find themselves just outside this pub.

"Hey, look!" Ludwig pointed, "It is a drug/alcohol pub! Aren't zhose illegal in ze Mushroom Kingdom?"

"In the Mushroom Province, which is the main area of the Mushroom Kingdom, then yes it is. But, since this is in Grass Land, it is legal here." Peach replied.

"Because the only cool thing to do in Grass Land is to get stoned and drunk." Wendy harshly said.

"HEY! I like Grass Land!" Larry complained.

"Explains your half-opened eyes all the time, Larry." Wendy said, smirking.

"Which explains why you are such a loser," Larry retaliated.

"WHAT THE HECK DID YOU CALL ME YOU FREAK?" Wendy yelled.

"And what did you just call me? Such harsh words coming from a girl who once dated seven boys at once. Nearly as many boyfriends as brothers. And yes, I saw you picking them up like a collector picking up shells at a beach, you player." Larry smirked.

Iggy, Roy, Daisy, and Luigi laughed, joining Larry's side.

Wendy, Lemmy, Mario, Peach, Toad and Bowser, however, got mad and attacked the other five. Soon, a full out brawl breaks out. Random drunk people saw the fight and joined in, making the fight scene worse.

Ludwig, Morton and Violent sat there with shocked faces. Aren't they supposed to be on one united team?

The brawl lasted for a few minutes, until a loud, feminine shout was heard.

"EVERYONE SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND GET OFF OF EACH OTHER!" Violent screamed.

Everyone eventually stopped. Wendy faced Violent.

"Why? Your name is Violent, don't you like it?"

"Maybe I do, I love violence as much as you love fooling around with men four years older than you. Now shut the heck up, player, and quit causing drama."

"And how about you quit joining in random arguments, you freaking no-namer?" Wendy yelled.

"Once you put in a tampon before you leak. Oh yeah, I am Madame Diana to these toads. Here's a tampon." Violent retaliated.

"Oh yeah? You want a piece of me you PIECE OF CRAP?!" Wendy said as she punched Violent.

Violent, Iggy, Roy, Daisy, Luigi and Larry got extremely mad at Wendy, but before Wendy can be attacked by the six, her team, except for Peach, came in to protect her.

'Oh God, help me..' Ludwig thought as he witnessed this scene. He and Morton looked at each other and shook their heads.

Peach, not wanting to cause another war by objecting to this, left the exact location of the fight. She casually dusted off her dress like nothing happened, then decided to drag both Ludwig and Morton into the pub with her.

"We are wasting too much time. Let them duke it off, I don't care." Peach said casually as they get blasted by party music and dirty dancing.


	9. Public Affairs

Chapter 9. PUBlic affairs.

Time: 10:17 AM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Green City Pub, Green City, Grass Land.

Peach, Morton and Ludwig walk into the Green City local pub to look for the history nerd Arthur.

"I can't believe you got in a fight with the others, over the location of a pub." Morton stated.

Yes, the rest of the group got in a major brawl taking place just outside of the pub.

"Yeah, but %#$ happens, to be honest." Peach replied. The Koopalings were shocked, as this was one of the first times they heard the virtuous princess swear, "Oh, don't be shocked that I swore, either. I do it all the time. Just ask Toad."

"Madame, vhat about Morton and moi? Ve aren't eighteen. Vell, I'm not eighteen until next month," Ludwig asked, "Are ve not allowed in here?"

"Don't worry, I am the ruler. What I say, goes, and I need you two with me." Peach replied.

After walking through a crowd of drunken dancers, the group eventually sees the bartender.

"Princess Peach Toadstool of the United Lands of the Mushroom Kingdom. Do you know if Arthur is here? We need to see him." Peach announced.

"Y-yes, milady, he is upstairs." The bartender replied, "But he may not talk to even you, unless you buy him a pint. Want to? Royalty discount for you!" He asked.

"Sure." The dainty princess said as she dug out 10 coins from her pocket, exchanging them for a pint of beer. She then drags the two Koopalings upstairs with her. Arthur is seen reading a newspaper, an empty beer glass sitting by him.

"Umm, hello Arthur, I was wondering if you can help us? It is really important." Peach said.

"Why, what the heck do you want? I don't talk for free, you have to give-" Arthur replied, before he put down his newspaper. "Oh my gosh! Princess Peach Toadstool! I am so sorry!" He gasped, stood up, and bowed.

"You are forgiven, sir, please make yourself comfortable. I need to talk to you. This topic is really important. Oh, and here's another pint, paid by Yours Truly."

Arthur sat down and relaxed. Peach and the Koopalings followed. "Thank you madam! And it must be important if you have dem two koop'lings with ya. That would never happen during a normal situation. Anyway, what can I help you with?"

Peach thought up about the vision of the shadow beast taking over. "Yes, was there ever a point in time where the world was taken over by some otherworldly being?"

Arthur sat up, happy that this is a history question. "Yes madam. Even I, myself, do not know much of this being, as it destroyed thousands of records after it taken over. I do not know what species it was, or if there was even a group of them, but they were otherworldly beings, as we found artificial chemical compounds not natural to this world in a few areas. Plus, even our brilliant scientists today cannot make a compound that complex, making it even more believable that it was an alien."

Peach's eyes widened. "Where is this area at?"

"This area is around an isolated island. Its name is Serenity Isle. It is rumored that the otherworldly beings found their way onto Plit through a portal contained under that island, but it is unconfirmed if they actually did. It is also rumored that the portal could also be in the mountains of Ice Land, along with a portal around the city of Sandstorm, Desert Land, as this certain compound are found in those locations also," Arthur continued.

"Do you know what shape the portal is in? Is it like an actual object, or some dark energy contained deep in the earth?" Morton asked.

"I, sadly, do not know. This topic is not the strongest topic for me." Arthur replied.

"Do you know vhere ve can find some of zhese old records?" Ludwig asked.

"Sadly, no, I have been looking for such records for years. I have had no such luck. Maybe the Sages are saying that I should not get a hold of them."

"Do you know where I can find one of these sages?" Peach asked.

"Yes. They are best found in Nature's temples." Arthur said, "That is all I can say. Is that all you need?"

Peach and the Koopalings got up and thanked Arthur. They then walked downstairs, back into the horrible atmosphere of the pub. Quickly walking towards the door, and looking away from the dance floor, they finally exited the pub.

When they arrived outside, they see that the rest of the group is finished beating each other up. The worst injury to them was Daisy's bloody nose, but the drunk people who joined in the fight laid unconscious with multiple broken bones. Looks like the heroes mainly beaten them up.

"Alright, guys, all gather up. While you guys were beating the snot out of each other, us three found out some useful information," Peach said, then giving out all the information she learned from Arthur.


	10. Resolutions

Chapter 10: Resolutions

Time: 11:31 AM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Outside Green City pub, Green City, Grass Land

Wendy POV

"So, the first thing that we need to do is find 'Nature's temple', then ask a sage for the records?" Daisy asked.

"Yes, but I do not know what he means by that." Peach answered.

"The wilderness!" Bowser shouted.

All of us looked at him with a confused look on our faces.

"The wilderness!" He repeated, "A ton of sacred stuff happened in the wilderness since the beginning of time! The wilderness is Nature's Temple!"

"Yes," Roy repeated, "I saw some stuff when I took over the Forest of Illusions in Dinosaur Land. But that forest is cursed, we need to find another one."

"Well, there's the Grass Land National Forest wilderness area about an hour northwest of the capital of Flora. I have heard of some sacred stuff that was performed there centuries ago from Toadsworth. To think he is actually useful right now." Peach stated.

"We can try that. Let's get the doomship!" Bowser replied as they started walking away from the pub.

During the walk, however, the others are talking, mainly me. I felt bad for what I caused back there. I caught up with Larry.

"Larry, I apologize for making fun of what you like. I was just joking around but I got carried away. I am sorry." I apologized to him.

"I am also sorry for exaggerating about you having seven boyfriends. I know you only had three." Larry replied. I smiled back at him. He knows that I don't exactly GO OUT with any guys; I'm not a user. I just go on isolated dates and whatnot.

I stopped walking and waited for Violent to catch up to me. Violent tried to avoid me, but I still followed her nonetheless.

"Violent, look. I am sorry for trying to bring down your ego. Everyone is important somehow; I was just blinded by anger." I apologized.

"Well, I forgive you, and I am also sorry, but why are you apologizing? I am just wondering." Violent asked me.

"Because, we need to stay strong as a team if we want to win. This shadow creature loves when we are broken up and hating each other. And it is all my fault that our team got smashed."

Violent smiled at me. "Now let's go and beat our REAL opponent." Violent stated.

_I, happy that no one else was holding grudges, continued walking with a smile on my face. I eventually got tired of walking barefoot, I was since before the fight, and put my high heels back on. About five minutes later, we reach Dad's doomship, where we all boarded up._

_Again, American Football is shown on two of the televisions, while the other two showed a map of Grass Land. We have about an hour and a half until the National Forest. Until then, we all kicked back and relaxed, well tried to anyway. We relaxed as much as we could with the thought of a potential doomsday set on the world. We spent the whole time watching the Football game. I cannot recall who was playing, nor who won, but that quarterback was obviously throwing a ton of interceptions, with a lot of fumbles. Makes the game more interesting, to be honest._

_The sudden sensation of the doomship suddenly falling came over my body. I look outside to see that, indeed, we have landed in this forest. What are we going to do in here, though? Pray? Talk to some random floating spirit? I don't get it, but I am sure Peach knows._

_"_Alright, let's explore this forest a little bit. Let's not get too far in case we get lost, though." Peach called out.

The group stuck together, walking through untamed wilderness. Suddenly, a green human approaches them. We all try to run away, but found that we cannot. The green human, however, told us that there was nothing to fear.

"I am Nature, the sage of nature. Everything out here, from the trees, to the animals, I am in charge of."

"A sage!" Peach exclaimed as she bowed, "Can we please see these ancient records for the times before the shadows took over Plit?"

"Yes, I will show you the exact location of them. How did you guys get here?"

"By my doomship," Bowser replied.

"Alright, I will follow you guys. Take me to this... Doomship and I will show you where to go." Nature told us.


	11. Dry land, stormy seas

Chapter 11: At one with Nature

Time- 1:28 PM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Doomship

"Keep going southwest for another hour." The sage Nature told Bowser, who is controlling the giant doomship.

"Okay," He replied as he looks at his maps, "Just crossed the western Grass Land border into Desert Land."

All of the passengers look out of the doomship's windows. Despite this being Desert Land, there was actually numerous trees, plants and birds flourishing.

"I just love plants!" Daisy exclaimed, "I need to go to that forest one day!"

Larry agreed with her as they kept flying over the green forest that blanketed the landscape and a sudden transition of more bare ground, sand and dried grass is seen.

Everyone is paying so much attention to the ground, that nobody noticed the change of the sky's colors. Black clouds suddenly surrounding the crew. A huge lightning bolt, immediately follow by a loud crash of thunder, consumed the whole scene. Heavy rains began to pour all over the doomship, getting the upper deck absolutely flooded within minutes.

Meanwhile, inside the doomship:

"Pa, da ship sprang a leak in the lower deck!" Roy cried out.

"Then put a bucket under it! We got to get the heck out of this mess!" Bowser replied impatiently.

BOOM! Another flash of lightning lit up the scene, followed by a loud CRASH. Not only did the thunder make a huge noise, but:

"What was that huge noise? It sounds like a machine just blew up!" Bowser cried out.

Before any others could respond, there was a shudder felt all over the doomship. Alarms went off everywhere in the doomship, followed by a message that appeared on all of the TV screens in the ship. It read, "EMGERGENCY! EMERGENCY! ENGINE 1 AND 4 FAILED. ENGINES 2 AND 3 ARE INCREDIBLY WEAKENED. DO AN EMERGENCY LANDING IMMEDIATELY!"

"NO! WE ALL ARE GOING TO DIE!" Wendy screamed, black tears running down her face. Her mascara is apparently not water-proof.

"Holy CRAP!" Bowser yelled, "EVERYONE HOLD ON!"

Bowser tries to control the shaking piece of flying machinery, but fails. After many attempts of wrestling for control, he finally gains back the role of pilot, and tries to fly the doomship to a safe area. Since engine 1 and 4 are on the left side of the ship, while 2 and 3 are on the right, this proved to be a difficult task, as the doomship favored going left.

Bowser looks down and sees a medium-sized city, then spots a barren field about two miles away, in the direction of 17 degrees North of East. He steers the doomship, the doomship obeying his every command, to that barren field, and attempts to land it as safely as he can. He succeeds!

"Well," Bowser said, "Good news: The doomship is safe, and so are we. Bad news: The doomship cannot operate without all four engines up and running on 100 percent. Plus, we are in the middle of nowhere."

"Ve need to valk to zat city over zere. Ve can get help zere." Ludwig replied.

"Yeah, we still have, at the doomship's speed, about fifty more minutes of flying until we get to the city holding the records." Nature told them.

Ludwig looked at them all. "I vill stay here. You guys valk to zat town please and see if you can buy more supplies to fix zis. I built ze doomships so I know a bit about zem. And all ze vires are fried, and ze spare vires are vet. Zey zhorted out. Buy more vires please."

The gang left while Ludwig stayed behind, surveying what work needed to be done.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

On the way to the city, the heroes are worried.

"What happens if the doomship will not work? What if we will be stuck here in this hot, scorching sun while the world is taken over?" Violent asked.

"I have that fear too, but we must think positive. Ludwig knows many things about a doomship. He even built them all. He invented them from an inspiration given from an airplane. He can fix this situation up just well." Bowser replied.

"Nonetheless, I still worry, another freak storm could pop up out of nowhere. Desert Land is always famous for spontaneous stuff like that. We need to be careful if the doomship manages to get fixed." Peach added.

As they kept walking, the sounds of cars, and the multiple buildings originally saw in the horizon got bigger and bigger. They then reach a sign that reads, 'WELCOME TO ROLLING HILLS'

"Aha, this is Rolling Hills! I remember hearing reports of this city. A lot of Desertlandian bandits live here. Be careful!" Peach warned.

Looking around the town for any shops selling fuses and other mechanical parts, they see a Koopa girl in this distance, in an alleyway, walking towards a carpet. Before she reaches the carpet, two bandits held on to her arms and feet, while the third grabbed her purse.

"Did you see that?! I will NOT accept that!" Daisy yelled.

Daisy, in a blink of an eye, ran towards the scene, just smashing up all three of the bandits. The rest of the heroes walked up to the bandits, making sure they did not get back up. A few policemen turned into the alleyway, and put their handcuffs on the three bandits, taking them away.

The girl Koopa stood up and brushed herself, retrieving her nearly-stolen purse from Daisy. Larry looked at the girl, his eyes very wide: The girl Koopa looked great. She had dark, brunette hair going down to the middle of her purple shell, emerald-like green eyes, and is very slender in shape. She finally responded to her rescuers. "Thank you guys for doing that! I am grateful!" She said with happiness.

"That's how I roll girl, haha!" Daisy laughed.

"Sorry to suddenly ask this question, but who are you guys?" The Koopa asked.

The gang looked at each other. Should this stranger be trusted? But Larry stepped out and spoke up.

"I am Larry. This is Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Lemmy, Iggy, Roy, Morton, Wendy, Toad, Violent, Bowser and the sage Nature."

"Ahh, okay. Thank you again for saving me! Oh, by the way, I am Alexis Schwab, but call me Alex for short." The girl Koopa said, adding a wink to Larry.

Mario was the first to welcome her. "Hello, Alex, do you want to join us on our adventure? It is a long story, but we can tell you on the way."

"Yes, I will love to join your group. By the way, how do you all plan on getting where you need to?"

Mario continued, "We are going there by Bowser's flying ship, called the doomship. It is currently going under repair by one of our crew members who you did not meet. We are here to buy fuses for the engines to work again properly. Do you have any, or know of any shops that sell them?"

Alex thought for a minute, "Hmm.. There is a hardware store a few streets down that sells stuff related to that. Let's try that place."

"Alright, let's get to walking." Luigi said.

"Walk? Who says we are walking, we are FLYING there. Get on the carpet." Alex replied.

Everyone got on the carpet. It then begins floating in the air, carrying all passengers along with it. It is actually a magic carpet!

The carpet, controlled by Alex, zoomed down the multiple streets, eventually stopping by a mechanical store. They go in, find some fuses, and bought them. As they are outside, some more bandits try to rob the fuses, but were knocked out by our favorite tomboy Daisy. They then zoomed off to the Doomship crash zone on the magic carpet, both fuses and fuses in hand.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Ludwig is at the bottom floor of the doomship- where all the engines and other machinery are kept in the bottom two levels. He looks on the right side of the room; everything looked fine except for a few shorted-out fuses. He will replace them when the group comes. However, he looks on the left side of the room, and sees a ton of smoke coming out of the failed engine. Black surrounded it, as if it caught on fire. It also has a little bit of bent steel, and probably a ton of shorted-out fuses.

Ludwig sighed and began working on fixing the engine. After repairing the components of the two failed engines, such as the propellers, he opened the slot where the fuses go, and waited for the group to arrive.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

As the magic carpet made a final stop in the barren, sandy field, Ludwig was emerging out of the doomship. Seeing Alex with the rest of the group made him confused.

Before Ludwig could ask who she is, she spoke first. "Hello, I am Alexis. Call me Alex for short."

"And I am ze vun and only Ludvig Von Koopa. Anyway, I need the fuses, give me then please."

Ludwig goes back in the doomship with the fuses. After putting in the fuses and a few last minute repairs, the ship roared back to life. The gang cheered and jumped as the doomship has been resurrected. Everyone boarded the doomship shortly, with Alex folding her magic carpet and putting it inside. Bowser takes off and the doomship is seen flying all the way up in a now-clear, blue sky.

"Now go in the same direction for 50 more minutes." Nature directed.

Cities, forests and uninhabited deserts came and went, and before they knew it, the group is at the entrance of another medium-sized city. Alex brought out her magic carpet for everyone to ride on.

A sign saying "Welcome to the town of Sandstorm!" Is seen, but instead of entering the town, they flew to the more mountainous region, which is to the west of them. After about fifteen minutes of cruising over cliffs and steep inclines, they find a cave in the side of the mountain.

Nature was overjoyed. "That's it! That's the door to all the preserved ancient records!"

**A/N: Yes, I couldn't resist adding my own OC in there! Review and tell me what you think of the story so far! **


	12. Library of the Underground Dungeons

Chapter 12- The Library of the Underground Dungeons.

Time- 4:53 PM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Cavern near Sandstorm, Desert Land.

The gang got excited as they have seen the door; the official beginning of this long and tough journey. It is actually a double door. They tried to open one of the doors, then trying the other, but both of them would not budge at all. Nature told them to stand back for a few seconds as she tries to find some engravings on the doors. She knew there must be some words written on them.

She finally found the words. "Garhhorrk Sientusha Halihyas!"

The door suddenly shifted and the doors swung in two different directions, leaving the opening of the cave exposed for everyone to see- Well, to try to see, anyway, the cave was dark!

Everyone got aboard Alex's magic carpet, with Alex piloting it. She controlled it to go through the dark entrance, but as she is continuing in the cave, torches on the walls suddenly lit themselves!

Alex got an idea from this happening. "Hmm, four of you please get a torch in case we need it."

Toad, Daisy, Larry and Wendy got off the carpet and quickly got a torch from the wall. Now the ground in front of them is lit. The group keeps on cruising down the path, and they eventually pass through some catacombs.

"This place is creepy!" Violent gasped, "There's dead bodies and coffins everywhere!"

"One sign that we are closer to the end!" Nature added, "But we still got a ways to go."

This area is huge, containing the tombs of hundreds, even thousands, of important-looking carcasses, most likely those of former rulers of Desert Land. Exploring through this area on the speedy magic carpet, the group had no problems at all. But, once they crossed a red line…

Several creepy noises are heard, otherworldly, ghastly sounds are emitted all throughout the area as undead monsters rise up from the coffins.

"This is not good! This is not good at all!" Nature screamed, "This is the sign of the beast getting closer and closer! There is no other reason why dead people will suddenly rise!"

At this time, the group is getting surrounded by zombies, vampires and even some risen goblins. Using his fire breath, Bowser manages to keep most of them at bay, preventing them from surrounding the group as Alex tries to control the magic carpet. Eventually, Alex masters the controls, and the magic carpet soars above the beasts. Successfully avoiding the undead, the group passes area number one.

"If I remember right, there are about four or five other areas we need to complete." Nature simply said, shrugging her shoulders.

"What?!" The group all yelled.

"Do not worry, the information you will receive will be well worth it." Nature replied to everyone's outburst.

"Oh great, this is the greatest vacation of my life," Roy said sarcastically, "Stuck with some supernatural woman who somehow knows the way to get to the information, yet not the information herself."

"It will be alright, Roy!" Violent said, trying to make him think positive.

"Anyway, let's quit this yakking. Alex! Let's get past this second area!" Nature commanded.

This area now consists of a deep magma pit. There is also an old bridge crossing the pit; the only way the group can pass the pit if they were to walk. They actually plan to pass it using the magic carpet, but…

"The magic carpet is not working!" Alex cried out.

Alex is right. The magic carpet, most likely overheated in this extra hot room, shuts down, leaving all the passengers stranded. Everyone begins to get off it, and when everyone got off of it, Alex leaves the carpet at the entrance of this area. The four torch carriers blew out their torches and also put them aside- the next few areas looked like they were lit up.

"We must hurry! The thermometer I have records 97 degrees Celsius in here! If my calculations are right, we will have about fifteen minutes to pass this before we become dry like raisins!" Iggy cried out.

"We do not have the magic carpet to help us! But we can cross that bridge over there!" Daisy shouted out to everyone as she started to run towards the bridge. Everyone else hesitated, but ended up following her.

As Daisy steps on the bridge, however, the whole thing shakes violently, and a piece of the bridge under her falls into the pit of magma. Screaming, Daisy barely manages to get off of that section before it happened.

"Ahh. We have to be careful, everyone." Nature advised, "This bridge may not have been used for centuries. It can collapse on some parts of it."

"I sure did not know that!" Daisy seethed.

"Isn't there some magic spell you can do?" Wendy inquired. "You know, something that can either get this bridge steady, or to get over this?

"Magic in here is not allowed, something here prevents me from using it." Nature simply replied.

"Enough talking now! Like Iggy said earlier, we have a time limit! We need to get past here before that time limit is up!" Luigi took a step ahead, taking charge of this situation.

"Luigi's right. Let's go all four humans at once, and three of everybody else. Deal?" Mario planned.

"Okay." The group simply replied.

Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy step on the bridge, holding onto the support railings incase the floor suddenly breaks through. The four of them reach the first quarter of the bridge with absolutely no problem. Then Peach, straying away from the single-file line the other three are making, steps on a rotting part of the bridge, resulting in the bridge breaking under her. Peach could not step out of the way; it was too late.

Luckily, Peach's reaction is fast enough to extend her arms out, preventing her from slipping down all the way into the hole.

"HELP!" Peach cried out in anguish, "I'M GOING TO FALL THROUGH SOON!"

Mario panicked. "HOLD ON PEACH! We're going to get you out of there!"

Peach continued to scream and cry out, as Mario and Luigi both hold onto her arms to pull her up.

Eventually, the Mario Brothers are able to get the crying Peach out of her death trap, and the group keep walking down the bridge with no other events occurring. They have passed the half mark with no further events happening, and then they cross the three-fourths marker.

"This bridge is not as bad as I thought it would be." Daisy said thoughtfully.

The group then finished crossing, waiting on the other side. Peach checked her phone for the time. 5:21. They have been in this area for six minutes already! According to Iggy, they only have around nine minutes left before they dehydrate in this heat!

"Hurry up your guys! We only have nine minutes left!" Peach screamed across the bridge, but her words are barely audible at the other side.

"Okay. Toad, Larry and Alex, you three cross first. Then Morton, Lemmy and Iggy. After them, I want Wendy, Roy and Ludwig to cross. Finally, Nature and I will cross. Get on it everyone!" Bowser commanded.

The four assigned groups did what they are supposed to, but as Bowser steps on the bridge, right after Wendy's group got off, the bridge starts shaking side to side.

"Ugh, we must hold on to the railings for support!" Bowser yelled out.

"Yes! Hold on tight there! We move foot by foot!" Nature cried out.

As the bridge keeps rattling back and forth, Nature and Bowser desperately hold onto the rope railings as if their lives depended on it, and their lives probably did. Eventually, they reach the end, and as Bowser steps off the bridge, the bridge swings completely up-side-down, leaving Nature to hold onto the railing for her life, with the smoldering magma sizzling below her. For possibly the first time in her life, Nature is expressing fear, as her sage-like abilities cannot save her in this area.

"OH NO! THE BRIDGE FLIPPED!" Peach cried out, "WE NEED TO SAVE HER!"

Bowser tries to flip the bridge around, but the bridge is stuck, as if some dark magic is preventing it from being flipped backup. He then attempts to do it again, but the same outcome happens.

"What the heck?" Bowser fumed.

Thinking of no other way to get to Nature, after his two failed attempts, Bowser walks back on the last part of the bridge, and punches a hole through the top of the bridge. The bridge, because of its decaying materials, easily breaks when the exerted force came in contact with it, leaving a huge, gaping hole. Inserting his arms into the hole, Bowser grabs Nature, and pulls her towards the top of the bridge. However, as they both start walking towards the rest of the group, with Bowser getting off, the bridge breaks in half! Quickly reacting to this threat, Bowser quickly grabs for Nature again.

"Oh my gosh, that was the scariest situation I have been in quite awhile. Thank you sir Bowser!" Nature rejoiced.

"No problem. Let's just go to the next area, everyone."

As the rest of the group walks towards the next area, barely reaching their fifteen minute goal set by Iggy, Nature looks back at the fallen bridge. The old, corrupted walkway is still attached at its two endpoints, which can create some nice ladder if only the magma somehow cooled…

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Five strange figures are seen on a sort of planet.

"NOW IS THE TIME MY MINIONS! Two thousand years ever since I have last been expelled from Plit! We have captured Atroba, Madoso and Earth, the three closest inhabited planets to Plit!" ? exclaimed.

Four of ?'s minions are standing in front of her. "So, what is the plan, my mistress?"

"Since we have conquered those three planets already, a little bit of our presence is on Plit, only in the sacred areas of Desert Land, Ice Land and Serenity Isle, where the entrance portals are. However, we are still not strong enough to conquer the power of all seven of the Sages. We must weaken them before we can advance."

"So, how are we going to weaken them?" The minions asked.

"Sages gain their power from their own elements all throughout the universe. Well, one Sage is already weakened, and has been from the start. Because of her weakness, we can easily travel through space. But, to weaken the other six, the one thing we can do to weaken them is to do the opposite element of everything in the world. Melt Ice. Cause darkness in areas that usually get light. You know, those kind of things." ? Responded.

"Should we start now?" The minions asked.

"Yes! Minion #1! Get your crew to wreck havoc across Atroba! Minion #2, destroy Madoso! Minion #3, control Earth! And Minion #4…"

"Yes, madame?"

"Minion #4… Do everything in your power to cause the three sacred areas of Plit to have their elements upset. We must start by making openings in Desert Land, Ice Land and Serenity Isle!"

"Yes ma'am!" The four minions shouted as they saluted their leader. Then they run out of the door.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

The heroic group steps into the third area. In here contains a lush garden bearing fruit typically found in the tropics. Coconuts, Guavas, and a weird fruit, naturally found on Yoshi's Island. A strange fruit they called 'Yoshi Yoshi.'

"This area is nice! Look at all these tropical fruits! I can live here forever!" Larry shouted out.

"Unfortunately, we cannot. We must hurry to the Library doors before some stuff happens. We are now in the Lush Gardens. The area after this one is the Raging Rapids, followed by the Tunnel of Light." Nature recalled.

"… Are ya sure ya do not remember any information about dis supernatural threat?" Roy asked.

"Yes I am." Nature replied.

"Anyway, this place is relatively uneventful compared to the last two rooms. What's the catch?" Mario wondered.

About five seconds after, a sudden rush of chilly air goes through the area, immediately causing all the plants to shrivel up. Nature is now complaining about how she feels even weaker than she already was when she first entered the cave. However, she still says she is strong enough to still journey with them.

Extremely cold air now fills the room. Iggy once again pulls out his thermometer, and is shocked to see its temperature.

"It is now -20 degrees Celsius in here! We must get moving before we freeze to death!" Iggy cried out.

The group immediately start running towards the exit, easily completing the third area. However, as they get to the Raging Rapids…

"The Raging Rapids completely froze!" Peach cried out, "Isn't it supposed to be Raging Rapids, not Frosty Frappe?"

"This is odd. This is completely unnatural. Something must be going on. Anyway, let's quickly cross this before we have any slip-ups- no pun intended." Nature replied as they once again crossed this area easily.

"… These areas are so boring! Where the heck is all the action?" Bowser complained.

"Be glad we have nothing biting at our necks now! Our glass is half full, not half empty!" Wendy said in a cheery voice.

The group enters the door to the fifth area- and are surrounded by complete darkness.

"Alright, guys, something is going on. This is NOT supposed to be happening. This is the Tunnel of Light! Not the Alley of Darkness!" Nature cried.

"Maybe the force already conquered this part of Plit?!" Ludwig said frightened.

"It is possible…" Nature replied sadly.

"Let's just light some torches and get past here." Bowser called out.

However…

"We left our torches with the magic carpet in the Magma room…" Daisy recalled.

"Oh great. Well, let me blow out a fireball." Bowser announced, attempting to blow out some flames. However, none will came out.

"What the heck?! It's not working!" Bowser exclaimed.

"THAT'S IT! This is some sort of dark mist. Nothing, not even fire, can survive in this. We need to use our other senses to get past this area." Nature expressed.

"… Alright group. Let's do this. Everyone leave the room for a second." Peach took charge.

Everyone takes the door back to the frigid Raging Rapids, or rather the Frosty Frappe, and wait for Peach to give directions.

"Now, everyone get in a single file line, and put your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you, and hang on. This is how we will stick together." Peach commanded.

Everyone makes a single-file line behind Peach, while Nature stepped in front of Peach. Peach then puts her hands on Nature's shoulders.

"Alright, let's go through the door!" Peach said.

As Nature walks into the dark room, the rest of the line following her, she tries to use every possible sense she can to navigate this room. To protect herself from any sudden walls, she sticks her hands out in front of her.

But, nothing came. This room led straight to a door. A glowing door, its aura somehow displaying despite the mist of darkness.

"HERE IT IS EVERYONE! THE DOOR TO THE LIBRARY OF THE UNDERGROUND DUNGEONS!" Nature cried out.

"What? That was it for the darkness? I was expecting some dark maze!" Lemmy cried out.

"Same here. But I am glad the door is here. Well, this is where our real journey starts, eh?" Violent questions.

"It sure is. All of the prior events were just a prelude to this marvelous adventure we will soon go on…" Nature responded.

"Well, let's get it started!" Violent says as she opens up the door, its bright lights radiating into the darkness.

**A/N: Took me a few weeks of off-and-on writing of this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! - Alex**


	13. Down in History

Chapter 13- Down in History

Time- 6:37 PM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Underground Library, Desert Land

"Wow, there is a ton of books and records here!" Daisy gasped in awe.

Peach quickly nodded, agreeing with her. "How come I never knew about this place?"

"Us Sages have to keep it secret, as these records can be used for evil. But, we know you all will use them for good. So we allowed you all to see them."

"Without further ado, let's read some of these." Bowser responded.

Nature walked up to one of the several shelves on the back wall. She then pulls out a heavy, green book. A green book that has so many pages, a dictionary would be envious. She then carries the book to a table, also located in the back of the room, and slams the book on the surface. The rest of the group circle around the table, each one of them sitting in a chair provided.

"Alright, let's first start with the history." Nature simply said.

"Let's do this!" Violent replied.

"Okay. Well, once, about 100 BC in a small kingdom on Serenity Isle…"

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"We need more blacksmiths to make some more pipes and steel armor!" A figure with a crown on its head, most likely a queen, cried out.

"We are on it, your majesty!" Some of the figure's servants responded.

As the servants leave, the queen began rubbing her hands evilly, thinking about all she will do when she gains control of the whole planet.

"Now, the last enemy kingdom will surrender to me in a manner of a few months! After they do, all the people will work for ME! They will provide ME with all their wealth, and they will work for me! They will get ONLY the food they need, and probably some shelter for the ones who work harder."

The queen then starts laughing evilly.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"… Wow! Life then was terrible!" Peach cried out, placing her hands over her chest.

"Yes, this is when the Plit Dark Ages began, with the rule of her. Her government was so totalitarian, that ANYTHING written about the history was immediately burned by her. But, from the records hidden here about the time period, we found out much more about her. Here, I will tell you more…

~7~7~7~7~7~7

The whole planet, at this time, is completely taken over by the Queen's forces. A lot of people formed underground tribes to try to combat the controlling government the Queen placed upon them, and to preserve their cultures. One tribe is called the Kauwaa, who formed a tight community around the Desert Land area.

During the time of the rule, the members of the Kauwaa tribe decided that it will be a great idea to write about their problems they are facing. The first record they wrote was the entire Queen's personal information.

The Queen of Serenity Isle:

Name: Jabrael Seren

Date of Birth: October 15, 3973 (Years from the time their ancestors were free from their last bondage.)

Pleased with this information, the Kauwaa preserved it in a cave near their temple in present-day Sandstorm.

Of course, other tribes wrote much more detailed records, but the Queen had her servants destroy all of them if seen.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"So our threat is a mortal who ruled Serenity Isle? And her name is Jabrael?" Roy asked.

"Yes, and it is believed that she was also a human." Nature answered.

"So, the Kauwaa. How did they not get caught?" Peach inquired.

"The Kauwaa Tribe kept very low profiles, exchanging their meeting spots every few days, carrying portable houses everywhere they went. They also did not allow anyone to join them unless they took a test proving they are NOT connected to the government. All these procedures made them absolutely undetected during this time." Nature answered, finding the reason why in the book.

"Yet, all the records ended up here." Daisy trailed off.

Nature nodded her head and replied, "Yes, and it is unclear how the records survived against Jabrael and her guards."

"And how did she lose her power?" Wendy asked innocently.

"Well…"

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"MISS! We have a problem!" Jabrael's advisor called out to her.

"'MISS'!? Excuse you, I am the QUEEN OF PLIT! YOU CALL ME BY YOUR MAJESTY!" Jabrael yelled out.

"Sorry Your Majesty! Anyway, we have a problem! Five tribes are rising against your rule, and despite our efforts to annihilate them, they are still standing strong!"

"Who are these groups of people?" Jabrael yelled out.

"The Cheks of Grass Land, the Kauwaa of Desert Land, the Iunos of Water Land, the Ligins of Sky Land, and the Fzor of Ice Land!" The advisor cried out.

"WHAT? GET THE ARMY TO DESTROY THEM! NOW!" The Queen cried out.

"YES YOUR MAJESTY!" The advisor cried out, quickly running out of the room.

The Queen just stared at a wall in front of her.

"Do not worry, Jab, those tribes will be obliterated." Jabrael comforted herself.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Nature turned a few pages in the green book.

"And that is the start of our Plit Revolution. Eventually, the Tribes gained power, and could compete against the Queen's government. Here, let me tell you more about the tribes at this time..."

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Each of the five tribes has set up a little government themselves, forming five little colonies of people. They have several military soldiers in case the Queen decides to attack.

The five leaders of the tribes formed an alliance to further protect them from the Queen Jabrael: Molty of the Kauwaa, Aquanei of the Iunos, Frostbite of the Fzor, Gloria of the Ligins, and Nature of the Cheks.

Like one of these times. The five tribes got barraged by Jabrael's troops. The Kauwaa and the Fzor easily put up with the invasion because of their extreme climates, and the Ligins because of the difficulty of going up in the skies around the Sky Land Mountains. But, the Cheks and Iunos are both having trouble being overrun by the Queen, and are in desperate need. Eventually, the leaders of both groups were captured and executed by Jabrael's troops.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"And yes. I was executed along with Aquanei." Nature pointed out.

"Oh my gosh! That is so sad to hear!" Violent said, shocked, "So why are you not in the afterlife?"

"Ahh, yes, the time we become Sages." Nature recalled, "I will tell you that part from what I remembered.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Nature is lost in the afterlife, surrounded by several other people whose games ended. In the crowd, she sees Aquanei. When Aquanei saw Nature a few seconds later, she goes up to Nature and hugs her.

"Oh my gosh! I thought I was lost!" Aquanei cried out.

"Yes, let's explore this area." Nature replied.

"Okay." Aquanei replied, and then asked, "I wonder how the Tribes at home are doing."

"Our tribes most likely are not doing well right now, but I am sure Molty is managing his Kauwaa well, Frostbite is making his Fzor superior, and Gloria is making her Ligins strong. Jabrael will be wiped off the planet eventually." Nature answered.

All went silent between the two, until Nature recognizes a superior being; could it be an important person here in the Afterlife?

Nature and Aquanei hurry up to the figure, to try to talk to her.

"Hello, I see you guys recently had your games ended." The figure said, "Well, welcome. I am Dustie, the queen of the Afterlife. I recommend you make yourselves comfortable here."

"Thank you, madame, but we have a few issues on our planet. An evil Queen has taken it over, and we need help expelling her." Aquanei informed.

"Really? She is raining terror over the planet she reigns?" Dustie asked, astonished.

Aquanei nodded her head, "Yes! And we have three mates down there who need help!"

Dustie rubbed her chin and replied, "There are these things in the universe called Sages. There should be seven in total, but there is only two Sages. I am one of them."

Nature turned her head towards the mentioning of these superior beings. "Tell me more about these Sages."

"Well, the Sages look out for a specific part of the Universe. I look after the Afterlife, and the other Sage looks after the Universe in general, and we are lacking five. In fact, I have an idea. You guys stood up for a great cause, and I want to reward you both by making you sages." Dustie awarded them both, as she casted a magic spell on them.

"Really?!" Aquanei asked, "Thank you!"

"Yes, and you are welcome! You are the new Sages of Water and that green stuff! It shall be called Nature, after you!" Dustie called out, "Please go back to the planet Plit to free it. I will gladly assist you also, and I think I know what three others to make Sages."

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"So Dustie is basically like a goddess?" Peach asked.

"No, she is not a goddess, but she is the leader of us Sages; she is the most powerful one. The other original Sage is also more powerful, so is Gloria because she is the Sage of Light, and so is the Sage of Fire, Molty. But other than that, the other three of us are equal." Nature replied.

"So let me get this straight. You went to the ruler of the Afterlife to tell her about your problems, and she made you both Sages like that?" Daisy asked.

"No, not just like THAT, she really knew what was going on, but she rather have us explain. She knew that we were leaders of rebellious tribes."

"Okay, continue with the story please." Bowser said, sounding pretty impatient.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"Hurry! Stockers! Keep getting arrows for the archers!" Molty commanded from the base, the Kauwaa easily fighting off Jabrael's army.

The war between the Kauwaa and the Serenity Isle army lasted for a few more hours until the captain of the Serenity Isle army called for a retreat.

"RETREAT! RETREAT!" The captain shouted out to his troops.

The Kauwaa chased the army out as they ran quickly towards the hills.

"Great job everyone!" Molty congratulated, "Now let's get prepared for Rush Number 8!"

However, the other tribes are not doing too well. In present-day Ice Land…

"Come on! They are using fire!" Frostbite cried out, "We will be doomed if this keeps lasting!"

And in present-day Sky Land…

"They are advancing up the clouds! Everyone! Get in your positions! Put on your armour!" Gloria cried out, noticing that her army is not as prepared as she thought.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Nature continued on her lecture. "The Kauwaa, for an unknown reason, was faring well, while the Fzor and Ligins faced a ton of troubles. Our groups of the Cheks and Iunos, however, were almost wiped out by Jabrael's army, and they had to retreat to caves for hiding. It really is a bloody time in history.

"But, eventually, Aquanei, Dustie and I came to the aid of the Cheks and the Iunos, and made them powerful once again. In fact, our powers made them so powerful, they were able to capture a portion of the Mushroom Continent. That is how the present kingdoms of Grass Land and Water Land started.

"Dustie then went to the Fzor, making Frostbite the Sage of Ice, and the Fzor captured the largest portion of the continent, and named it Ice Land.

"Gloria was made the Sage of Light after, and an even larger part of the Continent was taken by the Ligins, which they called Sky Land.

"Last but not least, Molty, who was doing a great job at fighting off the Serenity Isle troops by himself, was made the Sage of Fire, and the Kauwaa took over the most land of any of the tribes, and they named it Desert Land."

Peach, Mario and Luigi, however, wondered. "What about Giant Land and Pipe Land?"

"Great question. Eventually, Giant Land split off from Sky Land, and Pipe Land split off from Desert Land, so now Ice Land is the biggest Land. Pipe Land was originally created by the Kauwaa, so that the Kauwaa can keep in touch with all of the other kingdoms. It went to every kingdom on Plit- EXCEPT to Serenity Isle. The same is true today. Now, I will tell you how the United Lands of the Mushroom Kingdom formed, and how Plit day came." Nature said.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Eventually, the five newly-made Sages decided to unite their lands, incase Serenity Isle attacks again. Deciding to keep the past in the past, the five sages decided to make a calendar, starting at the year 0, and making October 15, which is both the Queen's birthday and the uniting of the seven Lands. The Kingdom of Serenity Isle has fallen, and Jabrael was casted out to Space by the six sages, gladly being accepted by the seventh Mystery Sage.

However, before this happened, Jabrael revealed herself to be a witch, and cursed a huge chunk of the Mushroom Continent on October 15, during the year 34. This newly-cursed land made the land dark all day, all year, and the kingdom of Dark Land was formed from this.

Wanting to not celebrate a happy time on the same day as a terrible event, the happy part of Plit Day was celebrated on January 1, and was renamed "new years". Plit Day, which remained on October 15, first started out to be more of a day of sadness and commemoration for all those who helped the Kingdom to be reunited. However, throughout the years, it slowly transitioned into celebrating the beauty of Plit, much like Earth Day.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

"Now we are at modern times. It was great that we were able to talk about this history, and how we all became Sages. And that is the history of Jabrael for you!" Nature finished.

All of the other listeners clapped their hands, the history finally over.

As the applause continued, however, Morton thought it would be a great idea to explore the library. A huge, black jewel on a high shelf captures his attention. He tries to reach for it, but it is just too top for it. He jumps for it, trying to swipe down the jewel.

It is only now that Nature paid attention to her surroundings, and the Koopaling trying to get the gem down.

"Oooh! Be careful!" Nature cried out.

But it was too late. Morton actually swatted down the gem, the gem easily breaking on the floor. As the gem breaks, a huge sound is heard, and shaking is felt. It then ends, and Nature finds herself way more powerful.

"Nice! I can teleport us out of here now! Let's go everyone!"

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Meanwhile, on the strange planet.

"Rats! That dang Koopa thing just broke my portal to the Desert Land sector!" The shadow beast Jabrael cried out.

"What will we do now?!" Her minions asked.

"Do not worry, we can still get in via Serenity Isle and Ice Land…" Jabrael said, laughing to herself…

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this, as much as I enjoyed writing this chapter! This is by far one of the most fun chapters I write, haha.**


	14. Dividing Up

Chapter 14- Dividing up.

Time- 8:26 PM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Near Sandstorm, Desert Land

The group, after being teleported out of the hidden library by Nature, reappeared right by the entrance to the caverns. Wondering how the heck the group got there, Alex suddenly remembered.

"GUYS! I accidently left my magic carpet in the caverns!"

The rest of the group made disappointed noises, but they decide to open the door to start their journey again. However, as they open the door…

"Woah!" Alex said, astonished.

The magic carpet, clear as day, is exposed as the door swung open, mystically hovering itself in the air. As the group once again gets on board the magic carpet, Alex silently thanks the Magic Carpet Recall function she has recently learned.

Peach, naturally the leader of the group, asks everyone a great question.

"So, what do we do now?"

Nature is the first one to speak up. 'Well, we learn from the documents that we need to do three things: Go to Serenity Isle, find the power sources or portals, and to get the other six Sages involved."

Daisy nodded. "Yes, but we only have until Thursday, October 18, according to Eldstar. We do not have that much time to do all three things!"

"Zis is vhy ve zhould split up." Ludwig gave out his suggestion, standing there boldly with pride. Everyone stares at Ludwig for a few seconds before they all start cheering at the idea.

"I LOVE IT!" Peach exclaimed.

As everyone settled down, Peach began making more orders.

"Alright, everyone! Group 1 will go to Serenity Isle and make sure everything is secured there. Group 2 will find the power sources and portals, and Group 3 will get the Sages their help."

"Who will be in each group?" Wendy inquired.

Peach answered her back, "Oh yes, and the groups. Group 1 will have Peach (me), Mario, Toad, Bowser, and Roy. Group 2 will have Ludwig, Morton, Wendy, Violent, Larry, and Alex. Last, but not least, Group 3 will have the rest of you, which is Nature, Daisy, Iggy, Lemmy, and Luigi. I will lead Group 1, Ludwig will lead Group 2, and Nature will lead Group 3."

"That sounds great, but how will we get to our places?" Iggy asked.

"That is an easy problem to fix. Group 1 will be with Bowser and his doomship, while Group 2 will be with Alex and her magic carpet. Group 1 will be with Bowser and his doomship, while Group 2 will be with Alex and her magic carpet. Group 3, however, has a problem, Iggy, but I am sure Bowser will let you use the Klown Khopper? Won't you, Bowser?" Peach asked.

"… Why, of course! Iggy can pilot it since he knows how to." Bowser accepted.

"Alright, we need to increase the speed of our rides, we have until Thursday, and it is nearly Monday right now. That is not enough time for our current speed." Peach commanded.

"I remember a city zat offers faster engines for any type of vehicle vhen I conquered Pipe land! I used it for King Dad's doomship!" Ludwig also stated, "I zink it vas called Metallic City? According to zis map, zough, it is about two hours avay from here, about 400 kilometers north. Maybe ve can go there."

"That sounds great, Ludwig!" Peach exclaimed.

After this talk, the entire group got on Alex's magic carpet, flying towards the doomship abandoned on the other edge of the city of Sandstorm. As they arrive at the doomship, Peach's group and Nature's group get off, hurrying inside of the huge, brown doomship. The magic carpet zooms northwards as the doomship roars to life.

~7~7~7~7~7~7

_GROUPS 1 AND 3_

"Where are we going?" Luigi asked.

Bowser answered back, "I am not sure at all. Only Ludwig knows of this place."

"Yeah, even I did not know about it! Haha!" Peach laughed.

"Well, I trust that he will guide us well," Concluded Luigi, "Time for me to kick back, relax, and to enjoy the remainder of this flight."

~7~7~7~7~7~7

_Group 2_

The ride to Metallic City for Group 2, however, is pretty rocky. A magic carpet and high speeds do not mix well at all, and all six members are holding onto an edge of the carpet with all their life, to prevent any flying off.

"This is tough! How close are we, Luddi? Hehe!" Violent asked.

"… Ve have about 30 minutes left. Try to velax as much as you can, ve are almost done."

"Thirty minutes?! That is too long to hang on to this!" Wendy cried out loud.

Ludwig looked at Wendy, unimpressed. "Zen let go if you do not vant to hold onto it."

"Hmmph!" Wendy, defeated, mumbled as she looked down at the now-green scenery below her.

"Patience, Wendy, patience. We are approaching it!" Morton reassured.

"Then we can get upgraded so we can go to Ice Land!" Larry cheered.

"Yes, now all ve do is vait, ve have about 25 minutes left as of now." Ludwig informed.

Despite feeling uneasy on the magic carpet, the others try to make themselves comfortable as the magic carpet zooms off towards their destination.


	15. Adventures in Metallic City

Chapter 15

Time- 10:45PM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Metallic City, Pipe Land

The three groups land here in Metallic City, where almost every business decided to close their doors for the night, the shorter Sunday shop hours allowing the owners and managers to get a little close-eye before the rushes of tomorrow. Unfortunately, for our team of heroes, that means no shops are open to possibly help them.

"Oh no!" Peach gasped, "What are we going to do? We need the technology to allow us to go faster!"

The other characters in the other groups look worried, except Ludwig. Ludwig, who took over Pipe Land back in the Super Mario Brothers 3 days, knows this city like the back of his hand. The main cities of Pipe Land, such as the capital of Electrocity, are all located inside Pipe Land's claim of the Shelley Archipelago, the same archipelago where the majority of Water Land's residents also inhabit. Metallic City, however, is located on continental Pipe Land, one of the only cities to be on the continental Pipe Land besides Port Kauwaa and Jasper, and a few nomadic camps. Jasper, which is the biggest city on continental Pipe Land, owns the famous Pipe Maze.

Thanks to Metallic City's isolation, however, scientists and philosophers were cast out to Metallic City and shunned during the ages when the Mushroom Kingdom Church ruled the Lands. Eventually, Church rule was taken over by the Toadstool Family, which also incorporated fair judges and justices into the Land, and science is once again legal. Due to the high concentration of genius in Metallic City, the city itself made engines that can go at thousands of miles per hour speed before the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom can even build a transcontinental road for transportation.

And now, the characters are in that very city, and all the shops are closed!

"Zese shops are still used to ze Church rule, I see," Ludwig pointed out, "Church rule ended in like ze '50s!"

"But during the time the Church rules, it's mandatory for every shop to be closed on Sundays," Bowser stated.

"Except for Metallic City," Peach added, "Where the scientists and others who fought against the teachings of the Church were thrown into. This city's always been a secular city for that reason, but they notice that not as many people shop on Sundays as they do on every other day."

"So zey close earlier, but unlike every other city, zey kept zheir Sunday hours?" Ludwig asked.

"Precisely," Peach nodded in the affirmative, "But let's walk around. Maybe a shop in an alleyway will be open, or a factory that produces engines will be."

The three groups decide to leave Bowser's doomship behind, and instead of walking, to use Alex's magic carpet to explore the city.

"Alright everyone," Nature started, "Find something that can represent an open business. Whether their doors are open, the lights are on, anything. We're on a tight schedule here; the last thing we need is to wait ten hours for a shop to open in the morning…"

The characters, still undaunted by all the closed stores, decide to check every tiny alleyway, easily flying over gangs that would otherwise capture the characters if they walked.

"Woo! Barely passed that gang!" Toad breathed with a sigh of relief.

However, as Wendy turns around, she sees several of the gang members pulling out guns!

"ALEX! THEY HAVE GUNS! BOOK IT!" she yelled.

At the mention of a gun, Alex immediately speeds off, the other characters barely staying on the purple carpet due to inertia. In fact, the pink-shelled Koopa girl fell off the edge of the carpet, the only thing dangling her on is her claw, deeply implanted into the carpet.

"AHHH!" Wendy screamed as she looks at the ground below her, "HELP ME!"

While Roy and Bowser helps out their distressed family member, the others are still looking for any signs of a business being open. So far, no such luck.

"We're screwed! It's 11PM right now; most businesses we've seen closed at 9!" Larry sputtered, "What are we going to do?!"

Nature sighs in disappointment, _'Great, we're all screwed,' _she thought to herself, '_I guess we have to resort to plan B, then plan I really hate to use.'_

Bowser and Peach nodded, "We should rest up for tomorrow. It seems like it's the only option we have. Plus, we're all tired," the princess told the characters.

All the characters agreed, except for Nature, "No, sleep is NOT the only option we have. We can do the unthinkable. A thing where, if we weren't in an emergency situation, I could lose my Sage abilities for doing."

The remaining characters, except for the carpet operator Alex, gives Nature a weird face, "What's that?" Daisy questioned.

"We BREAK into one of the shops."

~7~7~7~7~7

"SHADOW SIRENS!"

The three Shadow Sirens, Beldam, Marilyn and Vivian, appear from the ground in a gold-decked throne room, filled with glowing black candles. The candles themselves begin to flicker as the Shadow Sirens appear in the room, as if the flames themselves were threatening the Sirens themselves.

"What's the current progress of those REPULSIVE Mushroomers and Koopas?" the dark figure, Jabrael, asked in a grossed out voice.

"Well Queen," Beldam addressed Jabrael as the same title as she does to Jabrael's niece, the Shadow Queen, "They are stalled in Metallic City. Poor little idiots forgot about the Sunday Rule that the city still applies!"

"Good," Jabrael smiled, "Do all you can to distract them. We need the portals in Ice Land and Serenity Isle to be charged to 100 percent power. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this. It will be charged to 100 percent 3 days after the 2001st anniversary of the uniting of the Lands. That's this Thursday!"

"Guh!"

"Alright, Queen, your wish is our command. We will stop them," Vivian confirmed.

"LET ME TALK VIVIAN!" Beldam yelled, "OR YOU'RE GROUNDED! Anyway, Queen, we won't disappoint you!"

"Good, girls. Now get down there and distract them!"

~7~7~7~7~7

A figure operates under a 75 watt bulb, doing last minute edits on its blueprints to its latest invention.

"Alright, instead of putting the vacuum tube right here, I should put it right there," the figure corrected itself as it erases a few lines on the blueprint, "I'm just glad this store doesn't open again until 11am. I need time to build this.

As the figure walks over towards the area where his invention's going to be built, three shadow figures suddenly surfaced from the ground and knocks it unconscious.

"Good job girls, now drag him to the freezer. That way, if anyone should walk in here, this place won't reek," Beldam instructed. Marilyn picks up the body as Vivian opens the door to the freezer. Marilyn then throws the body into the freezer with great force, as the red-capped Siren quickly closes the freezer after, as if a good version of Pandora's Box will be released from the icebox.

"Let's get out of here before anyone else tries to come in," Beldam commanded her two younger sisters, "That should be the only person who's experienced enough to make boosters for those Mushroomers and Koopas."

"Guh!"

"Okay!"

"SHUT UP!"

~7~7~7~7~7

"ARE YOU PSYCHO? WE CAN'T JUST BREAK INTO A STORE!" Violent yelped as her 'feathers' rustled a little.

"Yeah! I'm the Princess; I can't commit these crimes!" Peach agreed.

"And I don't think Sarasaland will appreciate it either if I broke into a store located in another kingdom…" Daisy added.

"It doesn't matter! Your kingdoms will be thanking you in the end!" Nature argued back with them, "I'm a sage! You have to trust me!"

The other characters give each other blank stares. After all, if one of the universe's most trusted sages suggest breaking in, then shouldn't they?

"… Okay, we'll do it," Roy said, rubbing his hands together, the evil side of him desperately wanting to burst out from within him, "So, Miss Sage thing, what building we gonna break into?"

Nature pondered on Roy's question as she looks at all the buildings on the current street. One building has the title CAR REPAIR. Seeing that this building is useless to break in, Nature walks by the building. Another building, which turns out to be a grocery store, is also passed over by the leader of the Cheks. After what seems like several buildings, a sign finally catches the eyes of the Sage of Nature.

"AHA!" Nature realized, "E. GADD'S MACHINERY. I've heard wonders about this E. Gadd guy. Let's see if he has any inventions for the doomship, the magic carpet and the Klown Khopper in there."

While the other characters are looking forward to doing this crime, the Mario Gang and Ludwig expressed concerns, "E. Gadd will think low of us when he finds out about this," Luigi shuttered.

"And his inventions? Vhy not mine?" Ludwig questioned, his tenor voice leaking with both curiosity and jealousy.

"Because your inventions always blow up, Ludwig. We can't afford to be blown up! We have until Thursday!" Bowser yelled.

Ludwig looks down at the floor, his face full of disappointment. Why can't any of his family accept his inventions? They all don't blow up, actually. Look at the doomship, which, miraculously, didn't blow up yet. And the Klown Khopper? That was also an invention of his. But the Klown Khopper isn't blown up in some ditch, rusting as the elements fall onto it now, is it?

"Dad, not all my inventions blow up!"

"But I don't want to risk it. Anyway, Nature, how do we break in?" the King of the Koopas asked.

Nature observes the door, staying quiet as she does. With her hand, Nature feels on the wooden door, trying to sense for any cracks or weaknesses on the entryway, but no such luck. Finally, after her act, she answers Bowser's question, "There's no choice but to pick the lock, or to bust the door down."

The characters begin to talk amongst each other, some characters, mainly the Mario Gang, favoring the lockpicking idea, while the others, specifically Bowser and Roy, backing up with the full-on door demolition process.

Nature, however, sided with the Marios this time, "We need to leave as little evidence as we can. If passerbys see a busted door, they too will steal, or call police due to suspicious behavior. But, lockpicking will even stump the most observant people."

The Marios nod, with the Koopas reluctantly agreeing with the idea. Not an expert at lockpicking, Bowser tires his best to stick one of his claws into the keyhole and fools around in it; no such luck.

"I can't get it unlocked!" the huge Koopa complained, eventually coming up with a plan to go along with the door-demolition project, "What other methods can we do?"

"Step back, daddy!" Wendy commanded as she steps up to the keyhole, "I have experience with this. I steal from jewelry display cases all the time.

After uttering her words, Wendy pulls out a bobby pin from her shell, and sticks the pin inside the keyhole. Turning it a few times and hearing a small _CLICK, _the only royal daughter of Dark Land pops the door open, exposing a dark atmosphere full of metallic statues and sculptures.

"Nice! Part one done!" Nature congratulated all the participants, "Now part two: we need to find something that can help our vehicles go faster."

"And maybe something to prevent us from falling off the carpet, "Ludwig added, "We had a few close calls on our travel to Metallic City."

"Tell me about it," Wendy complained as the memory of the tough travel races back to her, "I could have died!"

The other characters roll their eyes, thinking that Wendy is doing a huge exaggeration of the whole thing, when Roy has a marvelous idea.

"I think dats da kitchen over dere. Or whatevs dat is. Let me see if dere's some pop or some odder caffeine products fer us," Roy explains to the group, "We need some."

"… We're here to steal equipment that costs thousands of coins. We may as well steal a few sodas too. Remember, this is for the sake of Plit and its residents!" Nature acknowledged Roy's idea, "Roy, get some sodas, energy drinks or whatever else you can find. Then, meet us back here."

As Nature wanders around the shop looking for boosters, Roy continues walking towards the kitchen, and sees a massive refrigerator and freezer. Roy opens the refrigerator and sees a bunch of original Baddie Energy Drinks, along with a few sodas. Grabbing all that he could and putting the ice-cold beverages in his shell, Roy proceeds to curiously open the freezer. However, in the freezer, he finds something he totally did not expect.

Professor E. Gadd is in the freezer, apparently knocked out. After a few seconds of a panic attack, Roy finally carries E. Gadd from the freezer, to the area where the other characters are browsing. Somewhere along the way, E. Gadd slowly regains his consciousness. As he is placed on the ground in front of the other characters, E. Gadd fully awakens.

"Ooh! Hello Mario! Hello Luigi!" E. Gadd greeted. However, as he looks over to his other sides, he sees the Koopas and Nature, "What do you Koopas want? And who is that strange human woman in the green?"

Luigi puts a hand on Gadd's shoulder, trying tog ive him comfort, "Don't worry, Professor. The Koopas and I are teaming up to defeat a force greater then the Star Spirits themselves!"

E. Gadd gigged in his crazy way for a few seconds before responding to Luigi's plan, "Haha. Anyway, how do you guys plan on doing that? If the Star Spirits can't do it, aint nobody can."

Suddenly, Peach has a few flashbacks.

=== FLASHBACK ===

_"And that is only part of the fight I can show you. There are many instances of it. Good always overpowers bad, and this case is an exception. We think there is something buried deep in the earth that is giving her power. I want you guys to go, find it and destroy it before the world is wrapped in her shadow arms." Eldstar instructed._

_"Are you guys able to give us hints, clues, or anything of that possible nature?" Wendy asked. _

_"I am afraid not, the other star spirits and I barely know that information ourselves." Eldstar answered._

_"What about the Star Rod? Isn't that thing powerful enough to stop evil from even advancing?" Inquired Daisy._

_"Again, this case is an exception. There is something that is obviously giving her negative, dark energy, to the point that even the Star Rod will have a hard time standing up to it. When dealing with anything outside our dimension, the 'force field' blocking that the Power Stars cause is much more powerful than the Star Rod. In other words, the Star Rod is best used when domestic problems show up, but we cannot destroy the dark object deep in the earth. And, once the figure shows up and reunites with her energy-expelling object, the Star Rod will have few, if any, power against it."_

=== FLASHBACK #2

_Arthur sat up, happy that this is a history question. "Yes madam. Even I, myself, do not know much of this being, as it destroyed thousands of records after it taken over. I do not know what species it was, or if there was even a group of them, but they were otherworldly beings, as we found artificial chemical compounds not natural to this world in a few areas. Plus, even our brilliant scientists today cannot make a compound that complex, making it even more believable that it was an alien."_

_Peach's eyes widened. "Where is this area at?"_

_"This area is around an isolated island. Its name is Serenity Isle. It is rumored that the otherworldly beings found their way onto Plit through a portal contained under that island, but it is unconfirmed if they actually did. It is also rumored that the portal could also be in the mountains of Ice Land, as this certain compound is found there also." Arthur continued._

_"Do you know what shape the portal is in? Is it like an actual object, or some dark energy contained deep in the earth?" Morton asked._

_"I, sadly, do not know. This topic is not the strongest topic for me." Arthur replied._

=== FLASHBACK #3 ===

_As the applause continued, however, Morton thought it would be a great idea to explore the library. A huge, black jewel on a high shelf captures his attention. He tries to reach for it, but it is just too top for it. He jumps for it, trying to swipe down the jewel. _

_It is only now that Nature paid attention to her surroundings, and the Koopaling trying to get the gem down. _

_"Oooh! Be careful!" Nature cried out._

_But it was too late. Morton actually swatted down the gem, the gem easily breaking on the floor. As the gem breaks, a huge sound is heard, and shaking is felt. It then ends, and Nature finds herself way more powerful._

_"Nice! I can teleport us out of here now! Let's go everyone!"_

~7~7~7~7~7

"We cannot attack her directly, as she has a ton of power. However, her power is not coming from herself, but rather some sort of object deep in the ground. We have to find those objects and destroy them before we can do any significant damage to her," Peach stated.

"THEN we can use the Star Rod on her, to banish her from Plit once and for all!" Daisy cheered.

"… Interesting. What does this have to do with breaking into my laboratory?" E. Gadd asked in curiosity.

"Well, Gadd," Nature replied, "We need your help. You see, we don't have enough time, and we may need to do a bunch of traveling in the airship, in the Klown Khopper and on her carpet," she continued as she points at Alex, "And something to hold us onto the carpet will be nice too."

"Well… What's your name again?"

"Oh, sorry! My name's Nature!"

"Okay, Nature. Come with me, I know the perfect appliance for that problem. Be right back, let me get it."

E. Gadd leaves the room to retrieve the requested items. During the waiting time, Nature explores the variety of Gadd's inventions sitting right before her eyes. They range from miniature cranes that can almost lift a bar the weight of an elephant, to some weird dome full of strange buttons and flashing lights.

"Man, this guy is a genius," Nature marvels to herself, "I wish I can do stuff like this!"

As she says that, E. Gadd walks back towards the group, carrying twelve engine attachments and a retractable fiberglass shield, "Doomships have four engines, so put two of these on each engine. As for the carpet and Klown Khopper, just put them anywhere on the back. And here's a shield for the carpet. It can also be used in battle if you need it."

"Thank you so much, Gadd! How much does it cost us?"

Gadd smiles at Peach's selfless question, "Absolutely nothing, Princess. Not only did you guys save me from the frigid temperatures present inside the freezer, but you all are on a quest to save the WORLD! Heck, the last thing I need to worry about is MONEY!"

"Thank you so much again, Gadd!" Peach ocne again thanks as the rest of the characters head out of Gadd's lab, "We couldn't have done any of this without you! See ya!"

"Bye bye!" Gadd smiled and waves at the group as they cruise off towards the doomship, trying out the magic carpet's new fiberglass shield.

~7~7~7~7~7

**A/N: Woo! Been awhile since my last update of this story! Exactly 5 months ago today! Anyway, I think by far, this has been one of my great chapters. My other chapters (Mainly 10, 11, 12 and 14) I will do more work on within the next few weeks. But I hope you all enjoyed!**


	16. Supernova

**? POV**

I am the seventh sage; the one that not even the others, except for Dustie, knows about. I am in charge of the rest of the Cosmos, and making sure the powers of the other six flows in harmony with one another.

Recently, the Cosmos have been a dangerous place, and even I feel like this is going to be a tough one to stop. I just feel so powerless right now…

BOOM! I watch a planet suddenly explode, releasing huge clouds of dust into the space surrounding it. This is supposed to be MY lair; MY backyard; MY farmland, and it is getting abused by a beast. A dark, wicked, grotesque beast.

The year is 13,045,016,917 in space terms, and along that time, NOTHING of this magnitude happened…

All of this 'war' started in the year 13,045,014,950, when a shadowy figure has been cast out into space by some rebels on the planet Plit. Ever since then, chaos broke loose all over the area, and she constantly is trying to take over the area.

I am the strongest sage, but even then I am still losing to this beast, whose name is "Jabrael" apparently. Jabrael has taken over – and is probably in the process of destroying- Atroba, Madoso and Earth. At this rate, she will reach Plit in just a few days.

Back to the recent planet exploding, it's found out that Jabrael has destroyed it because the planet was just a giant asteroid with absolutely no value. Whatever, as long as nobody is on it.

Well, I guess I should go to Plit, these people need m-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

~7~7~7~7~7~7

Time- 1:18am, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom

Groups 1 and 3 are heading back towards Dark Land, so that Group 3 can have access to the Klown Khopper that was left at Bowser's Castle.

"How much farther?" Iggy asked, the doomship going at way faster speeds now. According to the speedometer, thanks to E. Gadd's inventions, the doomship's going at a rapid 1,000 miles per hour.

"About five minutes," Bowser simply says as their four hour trip turns into an hour.

"Okay," Iggy says as he relaxes back into his seat. By his side, the other characters, even Nature, are sleeping, extremely exhausted from the day's travels, _'they'll need it,' _Iggy thought. Iggy himself isn't asleep because he's on a caffeine hype, and he's unable to fall asleep.

"We should get some anti-sleep pills," Bowser stated as he gazes back at the sleeping figures, "We will need them for our long travels.

"Yeah. We don't want to fall asleep while we're driving," Iggy repeated as he pulls out a vial from his shell, "Oh, speaking of sleeping, Ludwig gave me three of his four Knockout Potions. Here's one just in case you need it. It'll take you to the Star Spirits."

"Thanks Iggy. We'll need it definitely. Going to Serenity Isle will be tough; my team will need the Star Spirits' help on that."

"You're welcome!"

"Hang on tight, Iggs, we're landing!" Bowser instructed as the doomship slows down its speed, circles the Dark Land castle a few times, hovers in the air then slowly drops to the ground, the giant wheels once again connecting to the ground.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 1:29am, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Unlike Groups 1 and 3, Group 2 is lost.

"Where do we go? We don't know where the place in Ice Land is!" Larry starts to freak out.

"I have an idea. Jasper isn't too far from here, so ve can stop zere for ze night. I know all of us, including moi, are tired."

"Are you sure we should? I mean, isn't the world going to end soon?" Wendy asked.

"No, ze vorld is not going to end, Vendy. Ve vill prevent it from doing so, ziz. But ve have until Thursday. It's Monday morning."

With Ludwig's navigation skills, Alex pilots the carpet towards Jasper, which is about half an hour northwest of Metallic City. In the sheltered dome on the carpet, Alex and Larry start talking to each other.

"Hey Larry," Alex greeted.

"Hi Alex. How are you?"

"Going great, y'know, since I'm talking to you," Alex flirted, her face turning red after. Larry, instead of blushing, simply laughs.

"Yeah, I'm flirtable. I get it a lot."

"Is Flirtable even a word?" Alex asked.

Larry just simply shrugs, "Don't know. I always use words that I'm not sure even exist."

"Like what?"

"Well, like Flirtable."

"Haha, cute!" Alex complimented, "You're awesome. I'm glad I got to know you."

"You too! Does your family know you're with us?"

Alex immediately stops smiling at the family comment.

"… Oh. Are you…"

"No, I'm not an orphan. My parents are just separated. They are separated due to work, they aren't divorced. But I'm supposed to be attending my cousin's wedding on Thursday!"

"And do your parents know?"

"Larry, if my parents knew about this, I wouldn't be here with you guys. My mom's the one that lives in Desert Land, while my dad lives… Oh no…" Alex paused.

"Oh no what?" Larry asks in curiosity.

"… My dad lives in Jasper, Pipe Land…" Alex slowly says, facepalming herself afterwards.

"Don't worry," Larry attempts to comfort Alex, "We might avoid him."

"I hope so, Larry… Mom will kill me if she finds out. All she knows, I'm at a friend's house, because I was heading to her house before you guys found me. Gosh, she's probably freaking out right now."

"It's going to be alright, Alex. They'll forgive you once the find out you helped us."

"Geez, I hope so, Larry."

Alex was glad she got that burden off of her shoulders. What Larry said was correct; her parents should be forgiving- and even honored- that their daughter is among the heroes that saved Plit for the third time in its written history.

~7~7~7~7~7

Both Group 1 and Group 3 are right outside of Bowser's castle, getting some last minute supplies before they go on their journey.

"Iggy, you know where Ludwig's laboratory is. See if he has some anti-sleep potions in there. He should, that guy invents in there 39 hours a day!" Bowser suggested.

"Dad, there's 24 hours in a day," Iggy corrected.

"I don't care. Just find them!"

"Okay okay! No need to get so feisty!"

Iggy enters into the creepy, dark castle. Fiddling his hand around on the wall, the Koopaling finds a light switch, illuminating the whole hallway for Iggy. However, instead of venturing down the endless hallway, Iggy eventually walks up a staircase, displaying another dark hallway. Carefully and quietly as he can, Iggy sojourns down the hallway, his soft, slender steps barely rustling the comforting, crimson carpet. Eventually, Iggy comes across a door; a cold, metallic door that requires the fourth Koopaling to pull the door open. Iggy then flips the lights on.

Dozens of test tubes sputter from multiple chemical reactions, with several chocolate wrappers littered on the floor. Numerous computers are spread out across the room, all of them displaying static on their screens. Not only is this a pigsty and a potentially curious surprise to the inhabitants of Earth, but this is Ludwig's laboratory, where every day, Ludwig tests out his inventive, scientific abilities.

Iggy searches the shelves, carefully reading labels of countless vials. Thankfully for the Koopaling, Ludwig, instead of writing the labels in his terrible handwriting, previously typed up the vial's contents, as long as its main-effect and side-effects. "Hmm, I'm looking for an anti-sleep potion! Not this whole shelf full of romance potions!"

Yes, Ludwig has brewed up a few Romance potions. The reason is because Iggy and the other Koopalings always gave the oldest Koopaling crap for not having a girlfriend. To prove them wrong, he brewed a few romance potions and consumed one of them before testing it out at the mall. Let's just say, girls, specifically Koopa girls, do not like the raging hormones of Koopa males, especially of those they don't know.

Iggy laughs at the memory; he can still see Ludwig stumbling through the front door, with several bite marks, two black eyes and a spike missing from his shell. Oh yeah, and the gash marks that the girl made on Ludwig's scales with his own spike! Ahh, those were the days. But now, Violent shows an extreme interest in Ludwig, so he shouldn't need these anymore… right?

"Anyway, I'm being sidetracked. The potions I'm looking for isn't on his Romance shelf… Hehe," Iggy laughed to himself, "Let's check this side."

Ludwig must have his shelves categorized by their purpose. Now, on this shelf, are multiple potions dedicated to Ludwig's favorite sibling, Larry. Several tree-hugging potions, such as special liquid fertilizer and plant cure, are on the shelf.

"Woo, these potions here stink! How the heck do plants enjoy this stuff?" Iggy complained, "I need to interview them one day!"

Iggy, however, prevents himself from gazing at the plant potions for too long. He needs to find that potion QUICK, before his dad freaks out at him. Like Ludwig, Iggy is taking time a little too light; they still have four more days until this whole shadowy-figure-apocalypse stuff occurs!

The search on the third shelf reveals anti-violence potions Ludwig tried to sneak into Roy's beverages; it never really worked out. Luckily, throughout the years, Roy mellowed a little bit, eventually not beating up his siblings as much or as seriously. The fourth shelf displays potions that will make an alchemist's eyes bulge: a chemical compound that can isolate gold nuggets from almost anything. Here in the Mushroom Kingdom, and Plit in general, almost everything has gold in it. The hard thing is just isolating the gold from the other metals. Finally, the fifth shelf displays potions that Iggy has been looking for this whole time: A whole shelf dedicated to sleep.

Doing a silent cheer, Iggy reads the label on every vial. _Tonique de endormi? _No, that's not it. We want to STAY awake, not fall asleep in less than a minute. _Tonique de rêves? _Is that the fantasy version of the Knockout Potion he made? Interesting. _Tonique de l'insomnie? _This one MUST be it! And there's about 15 of them!

Iggy, thankful that he understands at least SOME French, takes all the available potions and puts them into his shell. Iggy turns off the lights to the laboratory as he pushes open the metal door. He then ventures the same path that he took to get to the laboratory, all the way until he gets to the front door. There, Bowser was waiting for him.

"Geez, that took awhile, son! I made all these sandwiches faster than you!"

Iggy looks down and sees two coolers in Bowser's hands, one red and one green. Bowser gives Iggy the green one, while saving red for himself, "What kind of sandwiches are these?" Iggy asked.

"I can't do meat because it's dangerous for meat to sit out without being refrigerated. So I just made PB&J's. Oh, and there's a third cooler in the back just in case."

Iggy nodded, "Alright. Thanks dad! Oh, and here's some of these potions."

As Iggy hands Bowser ten vials of _tonique de l'insomnie, _Bowser looks at the label in an odd way.

"Since when did Ludwig write his labels in French? He's Austrian!" Bowser yelps in surprise.

"No clue dad. I'm just thankful it wasn't in any language like German. Even though it'll be easier to understand, I guess…"

"… Well, thanks a ton Iggy! Oh, and the coolers have water bottles in them too! I guess we should separate now," Bowser reminded.

"Yeah, let's get this journey on!" Iggy shouts with excitement as he joins the rest of Group 3 in the Klown Khopper.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 1:50am, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Bowser's Castle

Bowser, instead of going straight to Serenity Isle, decides to stop by some place. First of all, he needs a map in order to GET to Serenity Isle. Secondly, He hasn't even heard anything about the mysterious island; its climate, its residents, its rulers- absolutely nothing. The kingdom's not in any kind of alliance, war or board of nations. Serenity Isle is just an isolated island in Bowser's eyes.

"Bowser, where are we going?" Peach asked as she woke up from her sleep, "Oh my! I'm tired!"

"Keep sleeping if you must, Peach. We're just going to a place where we can learn more about Serenity Isle."

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Peach agreed, "I rarely heard of that place before. However, some people at the Pipe Maze should be knowledgeable enough to help. They usually know tidbits about every country in the world."

"Even though NO warp pipes are in Serenity Isle, according to Nature?" Bowser questioned.

Peach simply shrugged, "Not sure. But it's worth a try, isn't it?"

"… Yeah I guess," Bowser muttered as Peach once again falls asleep. He would love to do the same thing as Peach, Mario, Toad and Roy, but he's too hyped up on a dose of _tonique de l'insomnie, _plus he's the designated driver of the group, "Time to go to the Pipe Maze. Jasper, Pipe Land, we're coming for ya!"

~7~7~7~7~7


	17. World of Tranquility

Chapter 17- The World of Tranquility

Time: 3:10am, Monday, October 15, 2001- Over an ocean

"Where are we going?" Daisy asked, "We're in the middle of some ocean."

"To the Land of the Sages," Nature responded, "We call it Tranquility World or the World of Tranquility. It's an alternate realm where the rest of the Sages are at."

As Nature is explaining the area where the group is venturing off to, Iggy is piloting the Klown Khopper while Lemmy and Luigi found enough room in the Khopper to get much-needed shuteye.

"Man, everyone's so tired," Daisy mumbles through a yawn during her sentence.

"Everyone will be better come morning time. Plus, maybe the other Sages can somehow help," Nature replied. A few minutes later, Daisy sprawls out on the floor, eventually joining Lemmy and Luigi.

"Okay, so when we get to Tranquility Isle, then there's a portal there to the Sage world."

"Why are all these place names synonyms for 'Peaceful' when they end up being the opposite?" Iggy asked.

"It's more than just a coincidence, Iggy. It was intentional; Serenity Isle used to be peaceful until Jabrael took over. Ever since then, that place has… odd behaviors. But Tranquility World " the Sage Nature explained.

"Interesting."

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: ?

"UGH! They all managed to get passed Metallic City! But how?!" Beldam cried out from the dark castle in their share of the Shadowrealm. Her two younger sisters, both of them exchanging puzzled looks, are at her side. At this time, the youngest Shadow Siren, putting her hands on her red-and-white-striped hat as she speaks to her older, bossy, stern, blue-and-white-striped-hat-wearing sister.

"Somehow they found E. Gadd, I think," Vivian mumbled.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU HIDE THEM IN A BETTER PLACE YOU HERMAPHRODITIC DOLT?!" Beldam screeched at the youngest sister.

"You told me to put Gadd in the freez-"

"I DIDN'T TELL YOU TO DO ANYTHING! QUIT BLAMING ME FOR YOUR IDIOTIC ACTIONS YOU UNTHANKFUL, DEADBEAT KOOK!" Beldam scolded Vivian some more, while Marilyn tries to sneak away. Unfortunately for Marilyn, Beldam notices her, "AND YOU! YOU FREAKING LOUSE! IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH A FREAKING MEATHEAD YOU WOULD THROW GADD IN THE FREAKING OVEN! SO GET YOUR FREAKING PURPLE, SHADOWY BUTT OVER HERE OR I'M GROUNDING YOU FOR LONGER!"

"GUH!"

"EXCUSE ME! DON'T CUSS AT ME! I'M YOUR OLDER SISTER!"

"Guh."

"That's what I thought. Now get your butts to Jabrael; I need to tell her about YOUR failures!"

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 4:47am, Monday, October 15, 2001- Tranquility Isle

The isle is actually really beautiful; its beauty is literally out-of-the-world, as several species of plants NOT native to the rest of Plit are on this island.

"These plants come from Tranquility World. They were produced by Yours Truly," Nature pointed out. Daisy, loving nature, plants and flowers almost as much as Larry, gasps.

"These plants are BEAUTIFUL! Oh my gosh!"

As the five characters explore the island more, they also see some interesting things, such as underground tunnels, multiple mansions and colorful streets, "Was this place inhabited at one point?" Lemmy asked in curiosity as he sees the urban development on the island.

"Yes, and it's still inhabited by extremely rich people and important regal figures. All of you can seek refuge here, you know," Nature invited, "But not now, of course. We have a beast to stop."

"Oh my! You'll be seeing me in NO time after this adventure!" Daisy cheered, extremely excited to be with the colorful displays of nature, "Nature, I'm just wondering. Why don't you make a flower that's completely black? It's like not even scientists can't genetically engineer a plant to produce completely black flowers?"

"Sorry, no can do, Daisy," Nature sadly said, "Black is the color of Jabrael. If it wasn't for that fact, blackness could mean both life and death in natural terms. Nutrient-rich fertilizer is black, and volcanic soil, the most fertile natural soil, is also black. But, because of Jabrael, any black flower produced by a plant, I mark it with blue or red. Tell your Earth friends that, and tell their scientists to quit trying to be better than me. I always triumph in the end."

"… Okay, I'll remember that. Thanks a ton, Nature!"

"No problem, young one. Anyway, the portal should be right… THERE!"

Nature points to a circular frame, a frame that apparently holds portals. The only problem is: there's no portal!

"Now, before you guys freak out or anything like that, I can summon up the portal," Nature comforted.

Nature steps up to the portal and chants a magical spell. Suddenly, a white portal appears out of thin air. As the four other characters watch in bewilderment, Nature points at a random patch of soil, resulting in a special kind of plant being grown in the patch. Nature picks up the grown plant then throws the plant into the portal. The portal then turns green.

"Sorry, I needed to unlock the portal. Anyway, let's jump in!" Nature guided the other characters."

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: ?

"ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS?!" Jabrael screeched as the two younger Shadow Sirens bowed their heads in shame.

"Yes, My Queen, these two deranged scums freaking put E. Gadd IN THE FREEZER and didn't lock that dang thing!"

"Beldam, quit acting innocent in front of me. YOU failed too. DO NOT think you are more awesome than your sisters! You're the leader! I'm blaming YOU for the mistakes that DID and WILL happen. Do you understand me?!"

Vivian and Marilyn sniggered to themselves as Beldam also bows her head. The large shadow beast gives the two younger sisters a strong look of annoyance.

"Quit laughing you two! You two are NOT off the hook! How DARE you forget to lock that freezer up?!" Jabrael scolded, "You two NEED to be careful! Now, you three, get your filthy selves out on the field and try to stop those heroes, you useless twerps!"

"Yes, My Queen," Beldam bowed as she gives Vivian and Marilyn dirty looks, "WELL, ARE YOU TWO COMING WITH ME OR WHAT?! Marilyn, are you too fat to go through this floor or something? Vivian, are you too much OF A MAN to also? C'mon and move those bodies!"

Jabrael laughs coldly as the three shadow figures left. "_Beldam, oh Beldam. How great of a future ruler you'll be. My niece, the Shadow Queen, taught you well, mhm," _Jabrael thought.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: ?

The Sun is shining, but at the same time, light and cosmic rays are emitted from stars from every direction. The four mortal characters try to gasp with excitement and awe, but they find out they can't breathe in this area. No, it wasn't like they were suffocating, they just felt like breathing is unnecessary in this world. Yes, this is a separate dimension, the Tranquility World. However…

"Okay, this place is NOT the same that is used to be. Usually, little animals are all over the place! What's going on?!" Nature stars to freak out.

The other four, however, didn't care. They were too occupied admiring the beauty of this dimension. Not even Water Land's share of Shelley Archipelago can compare to the beauty and the awe-striking sights here.

"… Oh, I'm being ignored. Okay. Anyway, you four, let me show you the other Sages," Nature invited, "Follow me."

Lemmy, Iggy, Luigi and Daisy follow Nature, to another part of the dimension. Here, the views are even better. The air is not too hot, nor too cold, and because of this great temperature balance, several kinds of exotic fruit plants are able to grow in this area. Some of these fruits include coconuts, guavas, and even a fruit tree that the characters have no idea what it is.

"Oh, that plant. It's the Dullberry Tree. There are only about fifty of these trees on Plit, and Larry has one of them in his greenhouse."

"OOOOH!" Lemmy and Iggy sudden realized what the giant tree in the greenhouse was.

"Yeah."

"Ooh, who are these people?" someone asked as six other beings surrounded the group. The four mortals began looking around, looking at the Sages and their appearances.

First is obviously Nature, who is a green-tinted human. As we know, Nature is the leader of the Chek tribe, the tribe that formed today's Grass Land. She is also the Sage of Nature.

Second is a Dragon Koopa who expresses similar appearances as Morton; he has dark scales, and is as large in stature. Unlike Morton, however, the Koopa has a black scale with white spikes, a purplish-black face and no star over his left eye. By the way he looks, the Koopa seems pretty laid back, friendly, trusting and willing to strike a conversation. He's the leader of the then-successful Kauwaa tribe, Molty. He's the Sage of Heat/Fire

The third one is a mermaid; she has a similar appearance as Ariel from The Little Mermaid, except she has brunette hair, a red-shelled bra and blue fins. She is always wearing a smile on her face, so by her personality, she looks cheery, nice and trusting also. She's the leader of the Iunos, and the Sage of water, Aquanei.

The fourth Sage is a Lakitu, with pink shades and a black cloud. The characters express looks of fear as they look at the Lakitu's cloud; usually, Lakitus with black clouds represent either a stern personality, brutal, or a Lakitu that has a tough outer shell to break- socially. This is the leader of the Ligins and the Sage of Light, Gloria.

The fifth Sage is a Ptooie, except unlike a regular Ptooie, the Sage has ice-blue… skin covered with white polka dots. The Sage breathes out a sigh, and as he does so, an icy mist comes out of his mouth. His personality, however, seems playful; over all, his liking for cold and his clownish personality relates most to Lemmy. This is the leader of the Fzor and the Sage of Ice/Cold, Frostbite.

The sixth sage seems like an exact copy of Violent. The characters are shocked when they see the Sage. She's a humanoid vulture, except she has completely black feathers instead of Violent's mixture of black and white feathers. She's also wearing a purple-black shirt with a black skirt, and is wielding a staff with a vulture on it. This is Dustie, the leader of the not-as-well-known tribe, the Undeads, and is also the Sage of Death.

The Undead tribe is full of undead creatures, such as boos, dry bones and the other ghosts that can be found in Luigi's Mansion. This tribe is the elite tribe; the Sage leaders of the other tribes are considered to be Undeads. There are NO mortals in the Undead Tribe.

Finally, the seventh Sage... The seventh sage is actually…

"ROSALINA?!" Daisy gasped (tried to anyway) in shock as the Princess of the Cosmos is among the others, "You're a sage?!"

"Yes, I'm a Sage. I'm the Sage of the Cosmos," Rosalina said as she rubs her stomach, "Sorry guys, I don't feel too well…"

Dustie smiles at the adventurers, "I think you guys heard of me before. I'm often mentioned as the Queen of the Dead. My first name is actually Diana, but Dustie's the name I go by. Also, I'm the senior Sage, so I'm actually the most powerful. People can escape fire, ice, outer space, light, water and nature, but nobody can escape death."

Lemmy, Iggy, Luigi and Daisy are all observing Dustie's looks. Is this why the toads back in Green City was referring to Violent as "Madame Diana"? It must be; no other important deity is named Diana, except for this Dustie sage.

"I have a question…" Lemmy asked.


	18. The Dictators of Serenity Isle

**A/N: Alright. Before I forget, I want to tell you readers. Any chapter up until Chapter 13 that has references to the Shadow Queen or anything related to Paper Mario was added when I edited the chapters. Chapters 14 and on, I based this fanfic a little bit on that game, throwing in the Shadow Sirens and the X-Nauts. Jabrael is based off the looks of the Shadow Queen also.**

**My original version of this story was definitely not as cool as it is now. Let's just be thankful that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door I guess!**

**Also, this is the longest chapter of the story, at... 10 pages! ... Okay, and nearly 5,000 words.**

Chapter 18: The Dictators of Serenity Isle

Time: 5:38am, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Jasper, Pipe Land.

The magic carpet lands in Jasper, Pipe Land, and the six riders eventually get off in front of a house. After all, Alex decides to see her dad. The lights are on in the house; Alex's dad always goes to work early on a Monday morning. Breathing in a big breath, then releasing it as a long, nervous sigh, Alex eventually knocks on the door.

"Visitors at 5:40am? I have to leave for work at 6!" a male voice shouts inside the house. Despite the voice being filled with confusion and disappointment, the door is immediately opened, displaying a male figure that has the similar build as Bowser, except not as big, menacing or heinous. As the Koopa saw the others, he expresses a shocked emotion when he sees one of them.

"Alex?! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be with your mother!" the Koopa asked, with a little bit of anger, but mainly confusion.

"I was going to a friend's house, but these guys," Alex starts as she waves her hand at the group, "They saved me from being robbed, and I agreed to join them to help them with something."

"What do they need help with?"

"We need to find some item that got lost somewhere in Ice Land. Apparently it belongs to their uncle, and it's very important to find it. I promise I'll be safe though, Dad! Let me go with them!" Alex lied as she continues her begging.

Alex's dad puts his hand on Alex's shoulder, "Of course you can. I have to tell your mother though; you know how she is. She's probably freaking out by now. There even may be an Amber Alert going on throughout Desert Land."

Alex reluctantly nodded, knowing how protective her mother can be when she's gone, "Yeah. I guess it's a good idea."

"By the way, who are the rest of these people? Are they really who I think they are?"

"Oh!" Alex gasped in surprise, "Sorry I forgot! Here's Ludwig, Morton, Wendy, Violent and Larry! All of them, except for Violent, are the royalty of Dark Land."

"Dark Land royalty, you say? Be careful around them; we were taught to not completely trust the Darklanders," Alex's dad warned, "Well, I should head off to work. I'm having a short day today though since it's Plit Day. I'm calling your mother soon Alex."

"Okay! Thanks dad! And bye!"

"You guys can sleep here by the way. There's a few beds in the two guest rooms. Enjoy," Alex's dad concluded as he drives off. Alex nods as she goes into the house, followed by the Dark Land royalty and Violent.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 6:00am, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Jasper, Pipe Land

Alex's group isn't the only group of heroes in Jasper. Bowser and his group also lands here in this pretty big town. While Alex landed in the Southwest part of the city, where the college is, Bowser landed in the Northeast part, where the Pipe Maze entrance is located.

"It's 6am everyone, the Pipe Maze should be opening up soon. I hope they aren't closed during Plit day," Bowser hoped.

"They're never closed, really," Peach stated, "They always keep transportation open 24 hours a day here. The whole Mushroom kingdom may go through a furlough period which will prevent nighttime operations between 10PM and 6AM. You must have thought that took action at the beginning of 2001, but it has been delayed to next year, January 2002."

"Oh. I don't know what I was thinking," Bowser admitted, "Well, guys, we should get going then."

Bowser parks the doomship, and then eventually exits the massive wooden airship. Mario, Peach, Toad and Roy follow the King of the Koopas, the five of them eventually getting off the doomship. Since they parked close to the gate of the Pipe Maze, they walk in with ease, and the five of them jump into the entrance warp pipe.

They come out the other end of the same warp pipe, which ends up being in some underground cavern with a stony wall, dirt floor, lit torches on the wall, and several entrances of warp pipes. Most of them display green tubes, which are either short travels or domestic travels through the Mushroom Kingdom. But some of the pipes even express color-coded pipes; red for an area covered in lava, orange for a desert, yellow for an island, light blue for icy areas, dark blue for underwater areas, pink for miscellaneous travels on Plit and two violet pipes, which actually contain portals in them, that transport the users to the pipe maze areas on the planets Atroba and Madoso. In front of all the warp pipes stands a middle-aged Toad.

"Hello, Peach, Mario and Toad! What are you doing here with Bowser and his kid?" the toad asked in curiosity.

"Oh hey. Umm, we're on an important quest to try to form an alliance between the Mushroom Kingdom and Serenity Isle," Peach lied. Well, it wasn't really a lie, but she just didn't tell the toad the whole truth. All the characters want to keep this spectacular task of saving the world classified.

"Good luck with that; we sprouted random warp pipes throughout Serenity Isle in refugee centers to escort out all people from Serenity Isle. But we cannot do that anymore, as the oppressive government somehow banned ALL warp pipes from coming up in that land. So, unfortunately, we're unable to go from the Mushroom Kingdom to Serenity Isle now."

Peach nodded, understanding what the toad is saying, "Thanks for that. But I'm just wondering. How's the rulers like at Serenity Isle?"

"TERRIBLE!" the toad shouts, surprising all five characters, "THEY'RE TERRIBLE!"

"Why? Who's the royalty of Serenity Isle? The only thing I know of that country is its name," Peach asked, "Did any of the refugees talk to you about the island?"

"Yes, the refugees did tell me about the island a bit. They tell me that these things, called the X-Nauts, are ruling the island, and Grodus is their leader. The government is so oppressive and totalitarian that no Internet is allowed, no computers, no radios and no televisions. It's going to be extremely hard to get onto the island, because every corner of the island has troops securing the border. Anyone trying to enter, or anyone trying to leave by aircraft, will be shot down by them," the toad explained.

"And warp pipes aren't allowed?" Roy questioned, "How did dey manage to do dat?"

"The X-Naut scientists have developed a machine that's used to prevent warp pipes from popping up throughout Serenity Isle. The machine has to be destroyed before warp pipes can appear on that island again. My fear is that the X-Nauts will eventually come up with a machine strong enough to prevent warp pipes from popping up in ALL of the Mario World!" the toad explained, adding the last sentence of his explanation in a shaky voice.

"Okay, thank you! We don't need a pipe, we were just wondering! Have a great Plit Day!" Toad replies back to the toad as the five characters jump back into the tube towards the entrance.

"Good luck to you guys…" the toad wishes as the warp pipe goes off.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 9:37am, Monday, October 15, 2013 – Alex's dad's house in Jasper, Pipe Land.

The members of team two are all tired, so they're sleeping in Alex's dad's house. Wendy, Ludwig, Violent and Larry are sleeping in the four beds in the two provided guest rooms, while Morton's sleeping on the couch. Alex, however, is lying on the floor in the living room, on her magic carpet, reading a book while listening to Morton's snoring. She has been asleep for the past four hours, but because of the effects of Ludwig's potion, she already feels energized.

"I already read this book a thousand times. And I read the other books in my dad's library a thousand times. There's nothing to do except to listen to Morton's snoring… Oh! I have an idea!"

Alex immediately puts the book away in her father's library, then grabs her purse and opens the front door. She carefully closes the front door so nobody, namely Morton, won't wake up. She then runs down a few houses and knocks on the door.

"COMING!" a muffled voice shouts. A few minutes later, a Koopa woman opens the door, "Alexis! How are you doing! Long time no see! Let me get Reeka!"

"Okay thanks mom!" Alex smiles; she usually calls the moms of her best friends that. In her world, she has more than one mother, along with more than one dad.

"REEKA VAN DRIEL! Get your butt down here! I have a surprise for you!" Reeka's mom yells up to her. A few seconds later, a figure storms down the stairs, and a tanned, slender, black-haired Koopa is revealed. The Koopa's hair is in a ponytail that goes to the middle of her pink shell, with purple-painted claws on both her hands and feet. Reeka, in a way, looks almost exactly like her mother.

"Yes mo- ALEX!" Reeka screams in happiness, "How are you girl?! I thought you were still in Desert Land!"

"I came here with a group of people," Alex replied, "We're on a quest to find something in Ice Land. But we stopped by here to stay the night- err, well, the morning. Until everyone else wakes up."

"Very interesting!" Reeka's mom replied in excitement, "Reeka! You should join her on it!"

Reeka beamed, "Really?! You'll allow me to go?!"

Reeka's mom smiles at her daughter, "You always dreamt of going to Ice Land. But I sense you guys will need coats so… How many of you are there, Alex?"

"If Reeka joins us, there will be 7, mom," Alex counted in her head. Ludwig, Morton, Wendy, Violent, Larry, Reeka, herself. Seven!

"Okay, high-quality costs around here probably cost around 1,000 coins each, so here's 7,000 coins, Alex! Well, 70 blue coins," Reeka's mom says as she attempts to hand out a bundle of coins. However, Alex will not accept them.

"We don't want to leech off you, mom, you might need those!"

"Stop that crazy talk, girl! We're rich; my husband probably made the money back while we are here yakking at each other!" Reeka's mom rejected as she basically forces the bag of money into Alex's arms. Finally, Alex smiles.

"Thank you so much, mom! I'll bring Reeka safely home, okay?" Alex promised as both she and Reeka begin to walk away.

"I know you, Alex. And because I do, I trust my daughter's safety into your hands. Do your best you two! And Reeka, remember to brush your teeth!"

Reeka rolls her eyes at her mother as she replies with clenched teeth, "I KNOW, MOTHER! I do it every night and most mornings!"

"Good girl! Alright bye y'all!"

Reeka's mom slams the door shut. Once she did, both Alex and Reeka sparks a conversation.

"So, who's with you guys?" Reeka asked, "Are they from Desert Land or Pipe Land?"

"Neither," Alex replied, "They're from Dark Land."

"DARK LAND?! Are you crazy Alex?! We were taught NOT to associate with Koopas from Dark Land!"

"It's a long story, Reeka. Let me tell you about it before we enter my dad's house…"

Alex and Reeka both sit down on the steps leading up to Alex's dad's house; Alex rambles on about how she was going to go to the store to get a gift for her friend, until three robbers tried to rob her. Then she tells about the Princess of Sarasaland being able to beat up the attempted robbers, and basically saved her. After that part of the story, she explains to Reeka about when she found out the whole purpose of the royalty of three different kingdoms being in her remote Desertlandian town, and how they split up into groups that eventually led them here.

"… Wow! So you guys are doing MORE than just finding something in Ice Land?!" Reeka shouts.

"… Yes. I'm sorry for not telling the whole tru-"

"Hold your apologies! I'm just playing with ya, chica! I want to join in helping you all beat up this 'Jabrael' person!"

Alex smiles as both of them got up and walk towards the door to her dad's house, "That's the spirit doe!"

Alex opens the door slowly, being sure not to wake up anyone. The scene in the house hasn't changed one bit: Morton is still adventuring in dreamland, although his snoring has stopped. Instead, a snore that sounds like a lawnmower is coming from one of the guestrooms. '_I think that's Larry…' _Alex thought to herself. But she didn't want to explore the house and wake up everyone.

Reeka, however, has different intentions unlike Alex. When Reeka sees Morton on the couch, she whispers to Alex, "Who's he? Maybe all of us in this place can hang out one day!"

"That's Morton. He, along with most of the people here, are Dark Land royalty! You know that's THE number one no-no to hang out with!" Alex whispered harshly.

"And that's coming from you, Alex…" Reeka shakes her head as she tries to hunt down the character who's emitting the lawnmower snores.

She checks the room that both Violent and Wendy are in, slowly cracking the door a bit. Nope, neither of the girls. Not surprisingly, females in most species on Plit don't snore as loud as their male counterparts, although the snores of a female typically have a longer duration.

Reeka closes the door as soft as she can, then takes little baby steps towards the room the guys are sleeping in, and instead of seeing two sleeping figures, she sees two blue-haired Koopalings watching an infomercial on a lawnmower. Hearing the door creak due to his sharp hearing, Larry instantly turns around and spots Reeka.

"Watch out Ludwig! An intruder!" Larry screams as Reeka immediately runs towards Alex. Unfortunately, she accidently wakes up Morton when she slams on the couch, causing the second youngest Koopaling to wake up.

"Hey, watch where you're going or I'll fix you up," Morton threatens as he lays back down, instantly falling asleep again.

"… Oops. Well, this isn't a great first impression…" Reeka said sheepishly as she starts to lightly blush.

"Don't worry about them," Alex comforted her best friend, "I'll tell them who you are. Let's just hope that Larry doesn't do-"

It's too late. Larry and Ludwig sneak out of their rooms. Larry is carrying a spade, while Ludwig is carrying a baseball bat. That's when they see the intruder; right by Alex!

"Alex! Watch out! There's an intruder by you!" Larry screamed, wanting to make sure that one of his new friends stay safe.

"Larry, Ludwig. Put down your weapons; this is my friend, Reeka! She wants to join us!"

Larry and Ludwig, realizing how foolish they are, put down their weapons. Immediately, Ludwig walks up to Reeka holding his hand out.

"Ze name's Ludvig Von Koopa. Nice to meet you," Ludwig introduced himself as Reeka shook his hand.

"And I'm Larry Koopa!" Larry calls out a little too loud, causing Morton to wake up once again.

"And you'll be mister potash if you don't shut up!" Morton complains, "You know what, sleeping's impossible with you guys around here. And who's that?"

"I'm Reeka Van Driel, nice to meet you all!" Reeka introduced herself. The Koopalings finally calm down a bit.

Alex gazes at her phone for the time. It's already 11:30am! TWO hours passed since she had the idea to go to Reeka's house! Man, time does fly sometimes!

"What's that rectangle block thing you just pulled out?" Reeka asked in confusion, "Is that some fancy watch or something?"

Alex giggled at the question, "No, silly. It's a cell phone. The only cool thing you can do with it is call people. I can send these things called text messages, but less than 25 percent of the people I actually know have a cell phone…"

"Interesting! They seem expensive!"

"Yeah. I need to wake up Wendy and Violent. We need to get going."

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 11:52am, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Pipe Maze, Jasper, Pipe Land.

Bowser, Peach, Mario, Toad and Roy are all in the doomship, all of them pleased with the information they gathered from the toad worker. Now, they know what they're facing: First, the island is full of X-Nauts, so the other four characters need to keep an eye out for Peach; second, they know how oppressive the X-Naut government is. Now, all they need to know is exactly HOW to get to the island without being shot down by the X-Nauts.

"How should we get dere if dey gon' shoot us down?" Roy questioned.

That's when Bowser remembers what's in his shell. Digging into his makeshift pocket, Bowser pulls out several of Ludwig's toniques along with the last Knockout potion, "We can get help from the Star Sages. We can put this on the sandwiches I made."

"Alright! Let me get them!" Peach volunteered as she got up from her seat, walks down to the luggage department, _'I think it should be in here,'_ Peach thought to herself as she rummages through the doomship's storage room. Finally, she finds the red cooler- Right in front of her face! Trying to hide her embarrassment, Peach eventually makes her way up to the deck.

Bowser opens up the red cooler and grabs five sandwiches. Carefully, Bowser puts the Knockout potion on each sandwich, resulting in five infected sandwiches and an empty vial of Knockout. However, before the characters could eat, a magic carpet flies by with seven people on it. Immediately, the characters recognized them.

"IT'S LUDWIG AND HIS GROUP!" Bowser shouts, "Peach! Get the blue cooler in the storage room! It's their sandwiches!"

Peach dashes back down into the storage room, wasting no time, while Bowser opens the Doomship's door as quick as he can and waved down the group on the magic carpet. Seeing them, Alex lands the carpet right in front of the doomship. The group's shocked expressions matches Bowser's surprise.

"Woah! How ironic it is to meet you here!" Alex declared.

Bowser nods his head as he held out his hand to them, signaling them to stop for awhile, "Hang on, guys, I have something to give you guys. Don't move. Peach is getting it for you all."

Bowser goes back into the doomship after his message has been announced. When he did, Peach comes running up from the storage room, panting and all flustered out from her two trips to the storage room. Before she collapses down in her seat, she hands Bowser the blue cooler, "Here…"

Bowser smiles at the panting Peach as he jokingly warns her, "Don't tire yourself out yet, Peach, we still have stuff to do in Serenity Isle!"

"No worries!" Peach responded as she looks at Bowser, who put the blue cooler on the doomship's floor. Digging into his shell, Bowser pulls out five toniques and puts them in the cooler. Bowser secures the lid, making sure it's on tight, and walks out the doomship with it. He then hands the cooler to Alex's group, who deactivated the glass shield around the magic carpet.

"Thanks Bowser! What's in here?" Alex thanked.

"Some sandwiches and a few… what are they called? Anyway it's some potion of Ludwig's that prevents people from sleeping," Bowser answered.

"_Tonique de l'insomnie? _You VENT into my LAB and GRABBED ze potions that I MADE?!" Ludwig shouted.

"I told Iggy to. We need some for our trip," Bowser answered.

"Iggy grabbed zem? Okay, zat's better. If it vas you, you vould destroy ze lab. Luckily it vas Iggy," Ludwig explained as he breathes out a sigh of relief, "How many did Iggy take?"

"Fifteen of them. Five for each group," Bowser replied.

"Ahh."

Bowser begins to walk away from the group, "Have fun in Ice Land! Haha!"

"Have fun in Serenity Isle!" Wendy replied as she lays down on the magic carpet, enjoying a little sunbathing.

"Serenity Isle doesn't sound fun. It's full of communist X-Nauts," Morton mutters before he immediately covers his mouth. Bowser gives his son a weird glance as he asks him a question.

"Morton… How did you know that?"

Morton has a nervous expression as he explains, "I was on this thing called the Internet to check this thing called an email. I then happened to accidently stumble on a website launched by the X-Nauts. Oh my gosh that website was weird it was like a search engine thing that has a ton of control panels that allows and prevents people from that island to access the Internet and stuff like that and I forgot what the website was but-"

"Shut up! I wasn't asking for a life story!" Bowser shook his head.

"Sorry. Bye," Morton simply said as Bowser walks off, getting into his doomship where Peach, Mario, Toad and Roy are at. The four of them gives multiple looks of annoyance at Bowser, the four of them desperately wanting to eat.

"I got caught up with Ludwig's group. Apparently Morton knows a lot about Serenity Isle…" Bowser revealed. Three of the other characters have shocked expressions. The fourth one, however, nods, apparently not surprised.

"I knew dat he knew," Roy confessed, "He was on dis weird thin' on da computer which ended up bein' a website thin' leadin' to da Serenity Isle stuff."

"… Let's just eat our sandwiches…" Bowser changed the subject as he takes a massive bite out of his sandwich. The other four characters follow his lead, each of them taking fair-sized bites out of the sandwiches. As the five of them finish off their sandwiches, they all collapse on the floor, letting themselves advance to the Astral Plane known as Star Haven.

~7~7~7~7~7

Time: 12:29pm, Monday, October 15, 2001 – Jasper, Pipe Land.

It's now the afternoon of Plit Day, and several parades and other celebrations are occurring. Trying to avoid such celebrations, and getting rude gestures from people they bumped into, sometimes literally, Alex makes a roundabout trip to a coat store in Pipe Land.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YA GOIN WITH THAT GLASS-COVERED CARPET!" someone screams out; they're apparently unimpressed that such things as flying carpets exist. Meanwhile, Alex rolls her eyes as she continues driving.

"Pfft, and to think we're saving them from Jabrael. We should just escape to another planet and let them suffer."

"But I like Pipe Land!" Reeka cries, "Plus that's not the best thing to do! We have to do this!"

"For the people! For the Star Spirits! For the universe!" Larry continued.

Alex thought about the things both Reeka and Larry uttered. They are right, after all, but still, she's tired of the terrible treatment that she's getting from the same citizens she's saving. _'Whatever,' _she thought to herself as she continues to drive to a luxurious coat store.

Not too long after, they arrive at the first coat store that's actually open due to it being the middle of October in Northern Pipe Land. The store itself is luxurious, with fancy Greek-style columns and several professional portraits painted on the outside walls. Parking the magic carpet, and then chaining it to a pole, Alex and the rest of the group members walk into the store, the seven of them browsing at the coats as Reeka carries the coin bag.

Hearing some customers come in, the clerk walks out of the back room and goes up to the Koopas, "Hey guys! Do you guys need help?"

"I zink ve do," Ludwig replied in an affirmative manner.

"What do you need help with?"

"Well," Larry responded to the question before the others could, "We're going to the Arctic Circle to visit some people we know. They're nomadic farmers, but they need help moving farther south to Winter there. Do you know anything about the temperatures in those area? I know it gets cold, but what's the best coat to get?"

"Depends. What land portion of the Arctic Circle? The Sky Land sector, Ice Land sector, Pipe Land sector, or the Dark Land sector?"

"The Ice Land part," Morton replied, "Somewhere by the mountains."

The clerk then starts her explanation, "Alright. The Ice Land sector of the Arctic Circle isn't as cold as the Sky Land sector, because the Sky Land sector has a ton of high-elevation mountain peaks, but the Ice Land sector, especially the western part, can be pretty windy. But because where you want to go is by the mountains, it's most likely the eastern part of Ice Land. So how about one of these nice Down coats with a hood attached? These coats can fit the four girls great! For you three guys, what about these Nylon-and-Down coats with a fur trim on the hood? Does that fit all of you? And here's some boots that go great with your coats!"

"Hmm…" Wendy thought, "Let me try this on."

Wendy puts on the coat that the sales clerk pointed out for her. It's a plain, but beautiful pink coat with a pink hood. Wendy smiles when she sees that there are straps on the hood that go around her chin. She then notices she's sweaty, so she immediately takes off her coat. After, she tries on her boots, and decides that she also loves them.

"This coat is amazing! How much is it?" Wendy asked.

"900 coins including the boots," the salesperson smiles as Wendy immediately decides to get it. Violent, Alex and Reeka, who got similar jackets, except in the colors of black, blue and purple, also decide to get their warm, fuzzy coats.

Now it's the guys' turn to try on their coats. Morton and Ludwig try on the large ones, while Larry tries on the medium one. Unlike the coats that the girls got, the guys' coats only came in black. Despite the one color flaw, the three Koopalings also like their coats.

"The two large coats will be 1,200 coins each with the boots, while the medium one will be 1,000 coins, also boots included," the salesclerk says as she walks towards the cash register, "Are you guys happy with the decisions?"

"Yes!" all seven of them happily replied as each of them walk up to the cashier.

"Alright, your total comes out to be 7,000 coins!"

Reeka slams the bag of coins on the floor. Inside are 70 blue coins, which represents 7,000 coins.

"Thank you for coming! Enjoy your trip to Ice Land! Hope the Wintering process goes well!" the salesclerk wished good luck.

"Zanks a lot, madame!" Ludwig thanked as the rest of the characters walk out the store, unchain the magic carpet and finally speeds off to Ice Land.

Meanwhile, with Alex's dad…

"Alex? Everyone else? Are you kids here?" Alex's dad asks as he sees the four beds in his two guests room not made, "Of course, those kids. Oh well, something for me to do…"

**A/N: I couldn't resist throwing in another one of my OCs. It's the last major one for quite awhile so… Congratulations on surviving!**

**A/N: I couldn't resist throwing in another one of my OCs. It's the last major one for quite awhile so… Congratulations on surviving!**


End file.
